Pranav Dhanawade made news last year after scoring an unbeaten 1009 runs in a school match.
Highlights
- A helipad was constructed on ground in view of Prakash Javadekar's visit
- Police detained Pranav for not vacating ground on time after practice
- He shot to fame in 2015 after scoring record 1009 runs in school match
Sixteen-year-old Mumbai cricketer Pranav Dhanawade, who made a record 1009 runs in a school match, was detained for a delay in vacating a cricket ground, where a helipad was being built for the visit of Union Minister Prakash Javadekar.
Pranav's family said he was humiliated and taken to the police station after he failed to wrap up his practice session in time. He was made to wait in the police station till his father reached the spot. His father clarified that he wasn't kept in the lock up.
"We were practicing and were in last stage of our practice. Police told us to evacuate. We agreed to leave after two minutes but they reacted arrogantly," Pranav said.
The police, however, denied it. "They disrespected us and used foul language. We told them to behave properly," an officer said.
The ground in Kalyan where Dhanawade was playing along with his friends, was handed over to the police for security reasons, a senior police official said. The Public Welfare Department had constructed a helipad on the ground in view of Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar's visit to Kalyan.
Pranav had shot to fame last year after having scored a record breaking 1009 runs in a school match.
A student of KC Gandhi Higher Secondary, Dhanawade had secured a monthly scholarship for five years from the Mumbai Cricket Association after becoming the first batsman in the world to notch-up a four-figure innings.
Mr Javadekar, meanwhile, decided to travel by road and not by helicopter from Pune. "It is not proper to make use of the play grounds for helipad hence I would be travelling by road and will not use the helicopter this time," news agency Press Trust of India quoted him as saying to a regional news channel.
The union minister clarified that it's administration's prerogative to finalise spot for landing of helicopter of a minister while observing that authorities should be cautious to see that playgrounds and fields are not used as helipads.
"If a youth like Pranav, who is a pride of India, has been beaten up, it is bad. But I don't know whether the police has beaten him or not. If it has, it is definitely bad and I will talk to the (Maharashtra) Chief Minister over the issue," Mr Javadekar was quoted by the news agency.