Advocate Sushil Mancharkar, who had reportedly expressed willingness to represent German Bakery blast accused Mirza Himayat Baig, said on Sunday afternoon that he has no such intention.

He issued this statement in the presence of Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe and other Shiv Sainiks at his Nehru Nagar house.

Mancharkar’s house had turned into a political minefield since Sunday morning. First, BJP workers, led by city president Eknath Pawar, organised a morcha outside his house.

But Mancharkar had apparently locked his house and gone out after getting a whiff of the protests. The police have been posted outside his house since Sunday morning.

Gorhe, along with Shiv Sena leaders Sulbha Ubale, Shrirang Barne and Bhagwan Walhekar went to Mancharkar’s house in the afternoon and met him.

After this meeting, Mancharkar said the issue of fighting the case for Baig does not arise as Baig’s family had not yet approached him.

Mancharkar said, “I had made the statement to oppose the diktat of the Pune Bar Association (PBA) which said that nobody should take up Baig’s case.

Under the Advocates Act, every accused has a right to get a lawyer. A bar association cannot issue such diktats.” Mancharkar faced severe criticism from the members of the Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune bar associations after his earlier announcement.

Gorhe said, “We read reports in newspapers that Mancharkar, who is the president of the Congress legal cell, Pimpri Chinchwad Unit, had shown willingness to represent Baig.

It already took so much time to arrest him. Even the Pune Bar Association has appealed to lawyers not to represent Baig.

Moreover, though Baig’s family did not approach Mancharkar, he went ahead and made the statement that he would like to fight his case.

Why is this Congress party lawyer showing so much eagerness to defend a person accused of committing terror acts? This goes to show how hollow the Congress party’s ideology is.”

Talking on the issue, Milind Pawar, president, PBA, said, “PBA has only appealed to all advocates not to take up Baig’s case. It has not passed any orders or put anybody under compulsion.

The appeal was made on humanitarian grounds as we are all Indians first and the German Bakery blast was an attack on India.”