The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has asked right wing activist Sambhaji Bhide to name the childless couples who, he had claimed, were blessed with children after eating mangoes from his farm.
The civic body is learnt to have served a show cause notice on Bhide, asking him to prove his claim that the mangoes from his orchards helped couples conceive male children.
Earlier this month, the Hindutva leader had made the claim at a public rally in Nashik.
“I have never shared this with anyone except my mother. I have planted these mango trees in my farms. Till now, 180 childless couples took the fruit from me and 150 of them have had children,” Bhide had claimed adding that, “If a couple wants a male child they will have it after eating these mangoes. This mango is useful for those facing infertility.”
According to a PTI report, the NMC sent the notice to Bhide last week after a social activist approached the health authorities debunking his claim.
Bhide has been asked to furnish names of the “beneficiary” couples and their addresses, the report quotes a civic official as saying.
Bhide, who heads the Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan, is an accused in the January 1 Bhima-Koregaon caste violence case.
(With agency inputs)