Nagpur: On Tuesday, as MS Lamba surveyed the busy
Kadbi Chowk from the vantage point of his petrol pump, he found it hard to believe that just 24 hours ago things were completely different. Lamba petrol pump is the biggest landmark at Kadbi Chowk and is flanked on the one side by Kamptee Road and on the other by road leading to Byramji Town.
“A mob passed right through the square yesterday afternoon asking all businesses to shut in support of the
bandh call. They pelted stones at our petrol pump putting my staff at risk, following which I asked everyone to leave their posts and move back,” said Lamba.
It was a mob of hardly 40 youngsters, but the aggression caused a lot of panic. None of the shopkeepers that TOI spoke to recognized anyone among the crowd, which usually happens during bandh calls by political parties.
“Absolutely unknown people, with a majority being youngsters. My car was damaged and then they stopped a bus and asked all passengers to get down. The female passengers were petrified while coming out of the bus but fortunately none of them were harmed. Police were present but were unable to stop the mob,” recalled Lamba. Up ahead the street at 10 Number Pulia (a small square between Kadbi Chowk and Indora), the same mob forced many to down their shutters.
Shabbir Ezzi, who owns Sadiq Traders, also said the mob was small in numbers but very animated. “We had already closed two of the three shutters before the mob arrived because news of the prevailing tension was known to everybody. As the mob moved forward, they threw water pouches inside the shop first, while the stones were pelted at the shutters. Some of them came to us and said we must support the bandh by closing the shop to which we agreed, as it is pointless to argue with a faceless mob,” said Ezzi.
A petrol pump near Ezzi’s shop, however, could not escape the mob fury. A staff member, who did not wish to be identified, said, “The cops were standing with us at the perol pump and we saw these kids, hardly 15 or 16 year-olds as part of the mob. Four or five of them stepped towards the pump and threw stones that damaged our display glass.”
He claimed the cops refused to step in and stop the stone pelters. “The cop said that stone pelters were underage and won’t get heavy punishment anyway. They also said that arresting the stone pelters will lead to entire mob’s attention being diverted towards the pump,” the staffer told TOI.
At adjoining Jaripatka, shops downed shutters as a huge crowd gathered there. Hardik Kothari, a shop owner, said, “I saw a crowd that was almost 150-200 strong and hardly a handful of policemen. Fortunately, there was no violence because they came and demanded that all shops be closed, something which almost everybody agreed to. It was no use inviting the ire of such a huge mob.”
Another businessman faced the mob’s ire even though he was not at his shop. Manmohan Hingal said, “I was driving down on Kamptee Road when some protestors threw stones at my car and the windshield got damaged. I just kept on driving and went straight to my home. Had I stopped, things would have got out of hand.”
