MUMBAI: In a late night dramatic move, the police arrested Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray from a state government guest house in Ratnagiri district in Konkan region and whisked him to Mumbai to stand trial for the attacks by his MNS party workers on the north Indians on Saturday night and Sunday morning in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane towns.
He was arrested for provoking hatred among communities as his supporters vented their anger by indulging in mindless violence and torching public transport to hold India’s financial capital to ransom. The news of his arrest soon spread like wildfire.
Angry MNS workers went on rampage and indulged in violence and arson in several towns of Maharashtra including Mumbai. In Panel in Navi Mumbai, angry mob of MNS workers set ablaze a truck; two city buses were burned in Bhiwandi and Dahisar, one bus was set on fire in Kothrud in Pune and the mob also stoned eight city buses and caused severe damage to them.
Similar violence and arson was also reported from Parbhani where four buses were stoned and set ablaze. In Buldhana, the MNS mob set three trucks and two buses on fire and in Nashik two buses faced the similar fate. Mobs also went on rampage in Kolhapur, Sangli, Nagpur, Yavatmal, Jalgaon, Satara, Beed, Raigad, Ratnagiri and several other towns in Western Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of the state.
In Mumbai, the MNS mob also indulged in heavy stone pelting and arson attacks at city buses in the suburbs of Juhu, Vile Parel, Jogeshwari and Bandra. The office of Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam was also attacked and damaged.
MNS workers fought pitched battles with the police opposite the Bandra court where Raj was brought in from the Bandra Kurla Complex Police Station in the afternoon. As the local police were unable to control the mob, the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) battalions were called in. The police used mild baton charge against the unruly mob. When this failed, tear gas was lobbed at them.
There was no curfew but it seemed like one with transport off the roads and large parts of the city of 16 million people being shut down. All schools and colleges closed by 10 a.m. and by 2 p.m. most Mumbai streets were deserted as scared residents hid in their houses to avoid the wrath of the MNS.
The toll by midafternoon — 38 public buses set on fire, at least 40 private vehicles damaged in stone throwing, 350 taxis and 60 autorickshaws damaged or burned, nearly 90 percent of the total 105,000 autorickshaws and 66,000 taxis off the roads. And the result, massive inconvenience to Mumbaikars caught in the crossfire as police were forced to fire teargas shells and wield the stick to control the mobs.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said that the law was equal for everyone and that no one will be spared who indulges in violence and arson and would be dealt sternly. Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil said that the police will take all necessary steps to protect the life and property of the people and miscreants would be tackled with an iron hand.
The Bandra Court where Raj was produced yesterday afternoon, after hearing the prosecution and the defense, sent Raj to judicial custody till Nov. 4. Renowned criminal lawyer Majeed Memon represented the prosecution and pressed for the judicial custody of Raj. But when the defense presented the bail application immediately, the court granted him a bail with Rs.15,000 as surety, for the case registered against him for the attacks on the north Indians in Mumbai, with a condition that Raj would present himself before the police for investigations once every week.
Soon after, the Kalyan police of the Thane district which had arrived at the court took Raj into custody on similar charges as that of Mumbai attacks on the north Indians. For the past few days Raj had troubled the state government and the police over the north Indians issue.
