Mumbai, June 3: Maharashtra's youngest councillor has been thrown out of his party - not for anti-party activities but for abducting his girlfriend from an ashram yesterday.

Ashish Damle, 27, who had in 2011 trounced a three-time councillor from the Shiv Sena to win a place in the Kulgaon Badlapur Municipal Corporation (KBMC) at the age of 23, had lost his head after the girl's father sent her to the ashram to separate her from the now-expelled Nationalist Congress Party councillor.

"Damle stormed into the ashram with two policemen and a dozen of his henchmen, vandalised the place at gunpoint, looted Rs 1 lakh from the ashram cash register and abducted the girl," said a police source.

The two policemen - they were part of Damle's security detail - have been suspended, pending an inquiry, said a top police official who refused to give their names.

NCP spokesperson Rahul Narvekar said he was not aware of the details. "I am not interested. Fact is Damle did something unlawful, and he has been expelled by the party for his activities. The law will take its own course," Narvekar told The Telegraph .

Known locally as "Captain", because of the pilot-training course he did in the US, Damle is the only son of a businessman.

"His father was a big funds contributor to the party from the Badlapur area (in Thane rural) and he had wanted a ticket for his son during the KBMC elections in 2011. Since he was just 23 at the time, the NCP had denied him a ticket then," said a party source.

Damle, a popular leader who used to organise music programmes and other entertainment shows for local youths, fought the municipal elections as an Independent and won.

The NCP eventually co-opted him and he joined the party.

Damle is absconding. An FIR has been lodged against him for robbery and abduction.