"Disturbed": Aaditya Thackeray Calls Out Shiv Sena Activist's Puppy Protest

Police have registered a case against a Shiv Sena (UBT) activist and others after they barged into a municipal official's chamber in Maharashtra's Nashik district and released two puppies from sacks onto his desk to protest against the growing stray dog menace, officials said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said in a social media post that he was disturbed by the manner in which the puppies were handled during the incident, and warned the protesters that such acts should not be repeated even though they were right in highlighting inaction by civic officials.

There's a video that I came across by one of the Yuva Sena office bearers from Niphad who has protested against 470+ dog bites in the city, in the past 5 months, and the inaction of the civic authorities.

While one may question the inaction of the civic authorities to curb the...

— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) September 17, 2026

An official told PTI from Niphad police station that a case was registered against Vikram Randhave and his associates for obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his official duty, along with a case regarding animal cruelty as the youth leader had brought the puppies in sacks.

According to the police, Randhave, a district youth wing functionary, led a group of Yuva Sena (UBT) activists into the office of Dheeraj Bhamre, Chief Officer of the Niphad Nagar Panchayat.

A video of the incident, which has gone viral on social media, shows Randhave pulling the two puppies out of sacks and placing them directly on the stunned official's desk.

"We have been trying to highlight the stray dog menace to you for the last six months, but you ignored our pleas," Randhave is heard telling Bhamre in the video. It was unclear whether Randhave's party supported his protest.

The chief officer informed the protesters that the civic body had already issued work tenders to address the issue, but the assurance failed to cool down Randhave, who warned of further demonstrations, saying, "If you fail to act, we will bring more dogs to your office next time, along with children and women affected by the problem." Randhave also placed a garland made of currency notes on the official's desk to register his protest against the civic administration's alleged inaction.

He claimed that over 400 stray dogs roam within the Nagar Panchayat limits and that more than 100 residents suffer dog bites every month, posing a severe threat to children, senior citizens, and motorists, particularly during the ongoing Ganesh festival.

No arrests have been made so far, the police official said.

In a post on X, Sena (UBT) leader and former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray expressed his strong disapproval.

"There's a video that I came across by one of the Yuva Sena office bearers from Niphad who has protested against 470+ dog bites in the city, in the past 5 months, and the inaction of the civic authorities.

"While one may question the inaction of the civic authorities to curb the dog bites and to shift the dogs to proper shelters with proper care, the protest should NOT have had the dogs being handled in such a manner," Thackeray said.

He had asked the office-bearer to apologise and not to conduct protests in this way, Thackeray said, adding that the latter apologised and promised not to repeat the act. PTI COR NR PR VT SKL KRK

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)