NAVI MUMBAI, 15 April 2008 — Former Captain of Indian cricket team Mohammed Azharuddin escaped miraculously with minor injuries, while his two sons and car driver suffered injuries in an accident on Sunday.
According to Nandkumar Chougale, assistant commissioner of police (Traffic) Navi Mumbai, the incident took place when a speeding bus rammed into Azhar’s car at Palm Beach Road in Nerul area. The police rushed Azhar, his sons and the driver to the MGM Hospital in Belapur.
Chougale said that the occupants of the car, which was badly damaged, were saved from serious injuries due to the air-bags in the car. Azhar and his sons were on their way from Mumbai to Solapur for a cricket match.
The impact of the accident was so severe, that the bus carrying few passengers from Uran, spun out of control and flattened a traffic signal at the junction. All the bus passengers and the driver escaped unhurt. The driver of the bus was booked for rash and negligent driving and would be arrested after prelimary investigations at the accident spot show that he did not slow down at the traffic junction, said Chougale.
Azharuddin and his troupe were allowed to leave after his driver gave a mandatory statement of the incident to the police and the damaged car was sent for repairs to a service centre in Nerul.
In another development, the strike called in Kolhapur district by Hindu militant organizations on Sunday to condemn Friday’s attack on deputy city engineer MM Nirmale of Kolhapur Municipal Corporation by Muslim youth passed off peacefully without any incident. The strike however evoked a mixed response.
The Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Hindu Ekata Andolan had called for the one day strike in which buses and autorickshaws were exempted. However, most of the shops in market areas like Shivaji Chowk, Mahadwar Road, Bhavani Mandap, Laxmipura and Rajarampuri area were shut.
Some youths belonging to the Hindu militant parties who were moving around the city on motor bikes forcing shopkeepers to pull down the shutters of their shops forcibly were arrested by the police as precautionary measure and then left off in the evening.
The Hindu protestors alleged that the police had not taken strong action against a group of Muslim youths that had ransacked the office of the deputy city engineer Nirmale and assaulted him. Nirmale had razed downs an illegally constructed madrassa in Kanan Nagar slum area on last Thursday. The incident had sparked off tension in the old city, as Muslims clashed with the Hindu militant groups.
The Hindu leaders alleged that the Muslims youths who were arrested last Saturday were granted bail within a day, while serious sections of the law were applied against the Hindus who were arrested after a Hindu religious site was razed by the civic body official.
A BJP leader alleged that the police were not taking strong action against the Muslims and were adopting partial attitude. The ruling party politicians were also adopting appeasement and vote bank politics to garner the votes of the Muslims, he said.
On Sunday the Hindu parties wanted police permission to hold protest rally at Shivaji Chowk, which was refused and the police clamped prohibitory orders as a precautionary measure to maintain peace in the city.
Sena leaders alleged that the police were depriving justice to the Hindus, while the civic administration and the police were buckling under pressure of Hassan Mushrif, Minister of State for Dairy Development, due to which soft action was taken against the Muslims.
District Shiv Sena chief Rambhau Chvan warned the Muslims that the Hindus would give a befitting reply to them. “The Hindus would not tolerate if the Muslims show power strength,” Chavan also warned the police that if permission is granted to the Muslims to take out a rally, the Hindus to will take out a counter rally and prove their strength to the Muslims
