Details will be sent to IB: CM

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday told select television mediapersons that the details of Saturday’s violence in Azad Maidan will be handed over to the Centre’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) for further investigation. Two persons died and 54 people,including 45 policemen,were injured after riots broke out during a protest by a 15,000-strong crowd against atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar.

According to mediapersons who attended the briefing,Chavan also said that the possibility of an “outside” hand is being probed. “It is not only a matter of the city,but a national issue,” the Chief Minister is learnt to have said. The attack was not only a deliberate target on the media and police,but a crime against the establishment,he said,adding that stringent punishment would be meted out to the guilty.

Miscreants torched three outdoor broadcasting vans of television channels besides damaging six police vehicles,49 BEST buses and numerous privately-owned vehicles.

Journalists pointed out the increasing attacks on media establishments to the CM. “The biggest concern is not one random incident but the lack of action against those who are lodging such attacks. There have been incidents of vandalism of media offices and attacks on media professionals in the past,but those cases are still registered with the police with not much outcome,” said the representative of a media channel.