PUNE, Sept. 25 -- The death of Deepak Wagaskar, 50, president of Sukhleshwar Mitra Mandal, during a Ganpati immersion procession in Ahilyanagar, on Wednesday night has triggered a controversy, with local NCP MLA Sangram Jagtap and residents alleging that he died after police resorted to a lathi-charge. The police have denied the allegation, saying they used "mild force" to control processionists. Wagaskar, who was participating in the procession, suddenly collapsed on the road at around 9.55pm. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead. His body has been sent for an autopsy. The incident prompted a bandh in Bhingar Camp on Thursday, with residents also staging a road blockade to protest the alleged police action. The immersion procession was halted following Wagaskar's death, with three mandals initially deciding not to immerse their idols. The idols were subsequently immersed on Thursday evening. "During the immersion procession, workers of some mandals were throwing gulal at each other as part of the celebrations. The local police imposed several restrictions on the processionists. Suddenly, they resorted to a lathi-charge, following which Wagaskar died. There was no need for the police to resort to a lathi-charge," Jagtap alleged. He demanded stringent action against the police personnel responsible. Ahilyanagar superintendent of police M Sudarshan has ordered an inquiry into the incident, which will be conducted by the local crime branch. Sudarshan, however, denied that the police had resorted to a lathi-charge. "The police did not resort to a lathi-charge. They used mild force to control the processionists as some of them were dancing on a temporary structure on a tractor being used for immersion. There could have been an accident if they had fallen from the structure onto the road," he said. Police officials said some processionists had also splashed gulal on police personnel while dancing on the temporary structure. They said the police used mild force to bring them down from the tractor....