Rioting, stone-throwing mar bandh

Though security had been beefed up in sensitive areas following the bandh call, which was supported by the Congress, untoward incidents were reported from Kandivli west, Gorai Creek, Damu Nagar, Lokhande Marg Chembur, Kurla east, Charkop, Amrit Nagar, Nadkarni Park, Seepz Andheri, BDD Chawls, Kamani Chakala and Sonapur Bhandup.

Rioting and stone-pelting took place at Mulund, where at least two persons, a bus driver and a press photographer, were seriously injured. Narayan Bapu Bamnhe, a Brihunmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking driver, was hit by stones hurled by rioters at Mulund a few hundredmetres away from the depot.

Nearly 1,000 people also stormed Mulund railway station and staged a rasta roko. When removed by the police, sections of the enraged mob pelted the station with stones and damaged two stalls on the platform. Even as a team of five photographers from various newspapers clicked pictures of the rioting, a crowd gathered around them and asked them to desist.

The photographers were pushed back to the station, where they were attacked by agitators from all directions. Jayprakash Kelkar, a photographer of Mumbai Samachar, was hit on his forehead just below his right eye Bleeding profusely, he was rushed to Suyash Hospital in Thane.

For rail services, trouble started early at around 6.45 am, when a dozen agitators placed sleepers on the tracks at Wadala disrupting services on the Harbour line for 15 minutes. This was followed by stone pelting on locals at Govandi at 10.30 am.

In Kasara too, services were disrupted between 8.30 and 9.30 am when activists attempted a railroko. However, no case of commuters having sustained injuries has been registered so far, said railway officials.

In the afternoon, around 200 people came on the tracks at Elphinstone Road station and held up locals on the slow track as well as the Karnavati Express which had just left Mumbai Central for ten minutes.

The stone-throwing didn8217;t leave BEST buses untouched: Over 125 buses were damaged and 23 drivers and eight conductors injured. Though BEST authorities claimed that only three passengers were injured in the attacks, they admitted that the number could be much more as most passengers alighted from the buses and went to private clinics for treatment.

A few seats of a bus was set alight at Worli, which was quickly extinguished by personnel from the fire department. Nearly 200 people were detained by the police all over Mumbai during the bandh.

Late in the evening, Sangare8217;s body was taken for cremation in a procession attended by over 50,000 Dalits from Jacob Circle to Chaitya Bhoomi, Dadar.The procession was escorted by over a hundred policemen, backed by Rapid Action Force RAF personnel.

A BEST bus and a private vehicle were targetted by activists at Prabhadevi. A scuffle broke out between activists and shopkeepers near the Siddhivinayak temple who refused to close their shops.