‘It’s a pattern. If police can prove the pattern, a definite action needs to follow’

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Ribeiro, who has detained Shiv Sainiks on many occasions while in service, recalls the interaction once he reached the station house.

“I asked them what is the problem. They started by identifying the local Muslims as Pakistanis…then they gave sermons on India. This and that. I said, my goodness, you are real warriors. I understand your problem. You want to fight these Musalmans. Then you must fight them on the border. I said I will just facilitate this. So I took the phone and I phoned my own residence, because there was no one at home at that hour. The phone kept ringing,” he says.

What followed was a spontaneous act where he pretended to talk to an imaginary Army official. “I pretended it was some Major on the line. I said ‘Major Sharma, you wanted to recruit people for the Army. I have got half a dozen people here ready to fight. They are absolutely fine specimen. And they want to go and are keen to fight Pakistanis’.”

Inside the police station, the protesters went silent, the mood changed, he claims.

“They kept saying ‘no no’. I told them, ‘I am talking to a Major, do not interrupt us’. And again I continued on the phone’s speaker. ‘When shall I send them. Should I send them to you or will you come here to pick them’. These chaps were all nonplussed,” adds Ribeiro.

The episode also finds a mention in his book, Bullet for Bullet: My Life as a Police Officer.

Ribeiro says once he ended the call, the Shiv Sainiks were informed that the Major had dispatched men to take them into service. “I told them, see that is where you should fight, at the border. Fighting on the street is very easy. You can even send your small brothers if needed. But on the border, you go there and fight,” he recalled. The Sainiks left soon. “…they just buzzed off,” laughs Ribeiro.

He says when he saw the images of events unfolding on television screen, he realised nothing seemed to have changed. “If the organisers shift the venue from Mumbai to some other city, this will give them a big jolt. Whatever it is, all the Shiv Sainiks are gully cricketers. They are fond of cricket. If the game is taken away from Mumbai, they become quite unpopular,” he reckons.

As a man who was the Mumbai Police commissioner when he detained 51 Shiv Sena shakha pramukhs during the Bombay-Bhiwandi riots of 1984, Ribeiro says there is only one message he has for the Mumbai Police and its commissioner: “There are three episodes that we have seen so far. First they stopped the Ghulam Ali concert, then they blackened Sudheendra Kulkarni’s face and now they don’t want Pakistani cricketers or umpires or commentators. It’s a pattern. If they (Mumbai Police) can prove the pattern, a definite action needs to follow. Just arresting them and releasing them on bail is not going to solve the matter. It’s time to file chapter cases against them. Keep them detained. It will keep them engaged. I know one thing from my experience and I am quite sure that position has not changed over the years. As soon as they are put behind bars, they get very upset. They want their bosses to come and release them. Without their storm troopers, they are of no use.”

9 more Sena workers held in BCCI office attack case

The Marine Drive police have arrested nine more persons in connection with the attack on BCCI office in South Mumbai by Shiv Sena members Monday. The police said four of the nine accused were Sena’s ‘shakha pramukhs’. On Monday morning, a mob of Shiv Sainiks had stormed the BCCI office and protested against the talks being held between BCCI president Shashank Manohar and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shahryar Khan. The police had arrested 10 Sainiks from the spot, while the rest managed to flee. Of the nine arrested, four are pramukhs (heads) with various Shiv Sena shakhas in South Mumbai, said the police.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com