A car belonging to a Koparkhairane resident was damaged during the protest. (Narendra Vaskar)
Chances of fake social media posts and videos resulting in a law and order situation, which could deepen the rift between Agri and Mathadi Kamgar communities at Koparkhairane, was behind the snapping of Internet services in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, the police have said. While Internet services were restored in the area on Friday, the day also saw the police identifying a man, who had died of injuries at JJ Hospital on Thursday, as a 19-year-old Maratha youth. Rohan Todkar, a native of Satara, was assaulted while he was agitating for the community’s demand for reservation in jobs and educational institutes, at Koparkhairane on Wednesday.
There was an eerie silence at Koparkhairane on Friday. Twenty-three kilometres from the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, it is home to Agri and Mathadi Kamgar communities. While Agris are from the backward classes, Mathadi, or head loaders, are predominantly from the Maratha community.
“In the past, there have been rifts between the two communities. On Wednesday, after fake posts and videos of violence at Koparkhairane started making its way to social media platforms, a decision at the highest level was taken to discontinue Internet services in the area,” a senior police officer from Navi Mumbai said. Internet services were restored after the police realised that its suspension was leading to more trouble. “People were thinking the situation was worse than what it really was. Once we realised that, senior officials decided to restore Internet connectivity,” an officer with the cyber cell said.
Todkar had been residing with his maternal uncle at Koparkhairane for the past couple of years. While his uncle is a loader, Todkar used to work in a mobile phone outlet. The police have identified Todkar as an agitator, who was among the three protesters beaten up by the villagers of Koparkhairane after the group allegedly set their properties ablaze.
“Policemen took the three injured men to the corporation hospital… Todkar was able to identify himself. We asked the authorities if they knew about him but they had then denied,” said an officer in Koparkhairane. Residents alleged that police reinforcement failed to reach on time. “Had the police reached on time and stopped the protesters from setting the properties ablaze, the villagers would not have reacted violently,” said a local resident.
The police, however, claimed that their men were stuck hardly 2 km away at D Mart, where a group of agitators tried to set the police outpost on fire. Maintaining that they were unaware of the assault on civilian properties, a senior officer said they were busy chasing the crowd away from D Mart. “The force was focused on the roads, as the agitators had come marching from Vashi… We had no clue that they were going to attack and get attacked.” Based on CCTV footage and statement of a complainant, the police have registered an FIR for murder and rioting against unknown persons.
“I was standing outside the gate and I heard the sound of glass breaking… a group of 30 to 35 men came running past our door. My friend’s husband sustained injuries as a stone hit him just above the eye,” said Bhagya Shetty, a resident of Ketan Co-operative Society in Gaothan.
Her neighbour Pinky Bhagirath said: “We bolted our doors from inside. But the people kept breaking window panes, pushing two-wheelers and poking at the windows of auto-rickshaws and cars.” At Sector 15, where Todkar lived, only a few shops were open on Friday and most houses were locked up. Amid heavy police presence, groups of men of all ages were seen huddled together on the roads. None, however, said they knew much about Todkar.
“He had come to live with his uncle’s family only a couple of years ago… He had a couple of friends who took his body to Satara for the final rites,” said a local resident. Members of the Mathadi Kamgar community cited a decade old enmity between the two groups, as a reason for the clash. “In 2005, a major skirmish had broken between the two communities on a minor issue… it also cost the life of a security guard employed by a senior Mathadi leader,” said a Mathadi Kamgar community member.