By IANS,
Mumbai : Raj Thackeray, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief, spent a quiet night at a police lock-up in a town next to this metropolis, after he was arrested Tuesday and charged with provoking hatred among communities.
The situation in Mumbai and other parts of the state Wednesday morning was peaceful but tense, according to the police. MNS activists had gone on the rampage here and in many parts of the state Tuesday after the arrest.
The police had put up a strong security ring around the place where Raj Thackeray was kept, Manpada lock-up and police station in Dombivili town of Thane district, with additional personnel from the Rapid Action Force and State Reserve Police Force.
In order to thwart MNS activists from creating any more trouble, the police had clamped prohibitory orders in the area under the jurisdiction of the police station.
Thackeray, who was arrested Tuesday morning in Ratnagiri, 250 km from here, is expected to be presented before a magistrate in Kalyan later Wednesday in connection with a case filed by the police for attacking north Indian candidates who were appearing at a railway recruitment examination last Sunday.
The 40-year-old Thackeray – an amateur cartoonist known till less than a year ago essentially as Bal Thackeray’s nephew who split from the Shiv Sena to form the MNS – was charged with provoking hatred among communities as well rioting, assault and damage to property after his supporters Sunday added another chapter to their campaign against non-Maharashtrians.