By IANS
Mumbai : Activists of the breakaway Sena group attacked a textile shop owned by a north Indian and burnt two auto-rickshaws as sporadic violence continued for the fourth day Wednesday in the city.
Two police officials were suspended and a probe ordered against another for not taking action during the clashes in the city.
Meanwhile, in an unexpected blow to Raj Thackeray’s breakaway Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), over 200 party members defected to the Shiv Sena in the presence of Bal Thackeray at his ‘Matoshree’ bungalow in Bandra. They were led by Avinash Gite of Goregaon, a northwest suburb.
Continuing their violence against north Indian migrants, MNS activists burnt two auto-rickshaws at Oshiwara, a northwest suburb, around 3 a.m. Wednesday, the police said.
Some MNS activists ransacked a textile shop owned by a north Indian at Matunga in central Mumbai. Around seven MNS men forcibly entered Sharma Textiles and vandalized the premises, but did not cause physical harm to the shop attendants.
Meanwhile, members of the Uttar Bhartiya Vikas Parishad, a social organisation of north Indians, went on an indefinite fast at the Azad Maidan, south Mumbai, demanding the arrest of Raj Thackeray.
“Our hunger strike will continue till the state government arrests Raj Thackeray,” UBVP president Munna Tripathi told IANS.
The MNS chief’s controversial remarks on people from north India led to clashes in several parts of Maharashtra Sunday.
The government suspended police inspector Motiram Kadam and sub-inspector Deepak Kumar, both attached to the Shivaji Park police station in Dadar, for not taking action against MNS and Samajwadi Party activists involved in the violent clashes on Sunday.
The two did not “perform their duty” during the clashes and were found standing “idle in a video footage of the clashes”, Joint Police Commissioner (law and order) K.L. Prasad told IANS.
An inquiry was also ordered against Assistant Commissioner of Police Balkrishna Bhange of Dadar division, central Mumbai, for failing to take action as MNS activists wreaked havoc on north Indians ahead of the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) rally on Sunday.
Bhange was present at the site when MNS supporters damaged and destroyed taxis and food and vegetable stalls run by north Indians, Prasad said.
Meanwhile, late Tuesday night, Farooq Ghosi, president of the Samajwadi Party’s youth wing filed a case against MNS members for threatening him with dire consequences.
“On Tuesday, a person claiming to be a supporter of MNS threatened to skin me alive if I dared to lodge a complaint against Raj Thackeray,” Ghosi said.
The city unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has announced a sit-in protest at the Azad Maidan here Friday against political leaders “spreading hatred amongst Mumbaikars”.
NCP general secretary, Syed Jalaluddin, said: “Our protest is not against any one particular party but against all those who are trying to divide the country.”