NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Shiv Kumar in Bombay
Almost 150 cadres of the Shiv Sena have been arrested in Thane, adjoining Bombay, for vandalising a hospital and burning vehicles following the death of Sena leader Anand Dighe on Sunday, the police said.
The state police control room said the arrests were made on Monday evening and on Tuesday morning on the basis of eyewitness accounts and photographic evidence collected from local mediapersons.
Dighe, a local Shiv Sena chieftain, died in the Singhania Hospital after suffering two heart attacks, while he was being treated for injuries sustained in a road accident on Saturday.
Sena cadres had run amok in the bustling industrial township after Dighe's death was announced.
Thane returned to normal on Tuesday with shops and business establishments reopening after a day's shutdown called by the Shiv Sena on Monday to protest Dighe's death. Commuter buses and other public transport was also back on the roads.
In a bid to calm tempers, Shiv Sena leaders clarified that Dighe had a history of heart ailments. Party leader Bal Thackeray also told mediapersons that Dighe should have taken better care of his health.
Thane police commissioner S M Shangari said in a statement that the arrested Sena activists had been charged with rioting and other offences.
More arrests were expected on Wednesday, he added.
The Singhania Hospital, which was partly burned by the Shiv Sena activists, has been temporarily shut. It was not clear when the hospital, the city's premier health care institution, would reopen.
Representatives of the industrial house of Singhanias said that the damage caused to company property is still being assessed.
Apart from the hospital, showrooms of the Raymond group and other establishments belonging to the Singhanias were badly damaged.
Timely action by the police had prevented the vandals from attacking a textile mill owned by the group. However, an aircraft belonging to the company was destroyed in the violence.
Indo-Asian News Service
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
