THANE, 9 July 2006 — The Thane police arrested 13 persons in connection with the murder of two policemen in Bhiwandi on Wednesday. According to sources all the arrested are Muslims.
Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil came under strong attack from the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance for the second consecutive day in the ongoing session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for acting soft against the alleged killers of the two policemen and also for not taking strong action against the minority community in the Bhiwandi riots.
Patil unable to defend himself against the onslaught however tried to pacify the opposition by justifying that the police firing in which two Muslims were killed was justified fully. “We cannot be pushed against the wall. If anyone throws stones or attacks policemen, they will be answered with bullets,” Patil said.
The minister visited the Thane government hospital to meet the injured policemen who were hurt due to heavy stone pelting by the mob at the under construction police station in Nizampura, the disputed site claimed by both the Muslims and the police and which led to the riots. Surprisingly the injured policemen were post-haste shifted to Thane from Bhiwandi for the ministerial visit.
During a visit to the office of the Thane police commissioner on Friday, Patil discussed the problem of the land with Muslim leaders from Thane and Bhiwandi and appealed to them to help restore peace. “The situation in Bhiwandi is fast returning to normalcy and curfew has been lifted,” Patil said and also announced that compensation would be paid to the families of the two Muslims killed in police firing in keeping with the norms finalized by the state government.
Giving a communal turn to the killing of the two policemen and making it a political issue, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray announced a donation of 100,000 rupees each to the family of the deceased policemen. The money will be handed over to the families after they return to Bombay on completing the funeral rites from their native places in Jalgaon and Nasik. Thackeray condemned the brutal killings of the policemen, and said that he had asked his son Uddhav Thackeray to visit the families of the killed policemen. The Shiv Sena leader was himself to present the money to the two families, but canceled his visit to Bhiwandi, as both the families of the slain policemen had left for their native places.
Bhiwandi Shiv Sena leader Subhash Mane said Shiv Sena will take out a protest rally against the Bhiwandi incident shortly.
The missing Muslim youth Shiraz Plumber was finally traced after two days of search by the tense family members. Deputy Commissioner of Police R.T. Rathore confirmed that Shiraz was in their custody after being arrested for rioting in which 30 other Muslims too are booked but yet to be arrested.
Rathore said that Shiraz was produced before a court in Bhiwandi yesterday afternoon and was sent to police custody till July 12.
The Muslim community has strongly protested about the arrest of Shiraz for the sole reason that he accompanied the media to show them the disputed site. Muslim leaders have also vented their anger against Thane Police Commissioner D. Shivanandan for promising them that Shiraz would be released but instead he was arrested and remanded to police custody.
