Pistorius poster killed after ‘killer’ tag revealed

MUMBAI: The social justice department on Monday removed the poster of blade runner Oscar Pistorius that had been displayed outside the cabin of minister Rajkumar Badole at Mantralaya.
On Sunday, TOI had pointed out that Pistorius is serving a five-year prison term for culpable homicide after shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14, 2013.The posters bearing Pistorius’s picture were meant to encourage physically challenged sportspersons.
The posters were put up by Gajanan Wagh, a BJP man who hails from the Badole’s native town and is considered close to him, with the minister's permission. Wagh had told TOI that he had “just randomly searched for ‘physically challenged’ on the internet and selected these pictures. These posters also have mugshots of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Badole and minister of state for social justice Dilip Kamble.
A department official named said that they had received calls from various people about the poster. Two of the six posters have been removed, he added. “We would not have put up the poster if anyone had pointed out earlier about Pistorius’s background,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress was quick to capitalise on the issue. “The state government should learn a lesson from this incident and henceforth would not repeat the same mistake. Instead of ‘show off’ hopefully government would concentrate on the work,” said state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant.