(Top) A vehicle, vandalised during the violence in Chakan, parked near the Pune-Nashik Highway. (Express photo by Arul Horizon)
A day after rampant violence erupted in Chakan area of Pune district, police have started investigating how large mobs of miscreants were mobilised and attacks on vehicles and police personnel carried out. As police teams began sifting through hundred of videos and images of the violence, officials said they were probing the role of “non-locals and the floating population” in acts of arson and vandalism.
Late on Tuesday night, police launched a combing operation and detained at least 30 suspects.
The agitation for Maratha reservation had taken a violent turn in Chakan and Khed areas in the industrial belt of Pune district on Monday, when mobs of protesters set ablaze at least 20 vehicles and vandalised 70 more.
The Pune-Nashik Highway was blocked for over seven hours by protesters. Eight police personnel, including three officers, sustained injuries in stone-pelting by the mob. Among them was Police Constable Ajay Bhapkar, who sustained a grievous head injury and had to undergo a surgery. His condition was reported to be stable.
Late on Monday night, police had registered an offence, which stated that as many as 4,000-5,000 protesters had turned violent. The actual number of those who resorted to violence would be smaller, said police.
Police have also invoked sections of the Highways Act and Section 26 of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act, to take action against protesters who burnt tyres and blocked the highway, as per directives of the NGT’s Pune bench. In the FIR, police have said the estimated financial loss due to damage to property was between Rs 8 to 10 crore.
On Tuesday, the law and order situation was normal in Chakan, where hundreds of police personnel have been deployed.
“Investigation into the sequence of events leading to the violence has begun. The probe, till now, points to the role of some non-locals, along with the floating population in the industrial area, and also to that of some locals from Chakan,” said Sandeep Patil, superintendent of police, Pune Rural.
On what triggered the violence on Monday, an officer from Pune Rural Police said, “Members of the Maratha Kranti Morcha had taken permission to take out a rally… by the time the rally started from Chakan town, some people, who are suspected to be non-locals, had already gathered at Talegaon Chowk. The rally and speeches by some local leaders went off peacefully. Some people begun to disperse, but some others, hundreds of them, started walking towards Talegaon Chowk. This is when the violence started. Those who were leaving came back and joined the miscreants”.
Police teams have been looking through footage from CCTV cameras and images of the violence to identify those responsible for the violence.
“Immediately after the FIR was registered, our teams started gathering CCTV footage, photos and images of the violence from people… we are seeking help from local reporters, elderly people and local youths to identify the people in these images. Till late on Tuesday, many persons have been identified and there are crucial leads about the real attackers. It will take some more time as we have to go through all the images. We appeal to local residents to contact the Chakan police station if they have any images of violence on Monday,” said an officer who is part of the team that is looking into visual data of the violence.
A senior officer from Pune Rural Police said, “A probe will be conducted to find out who the miscreants were, which organisations they belonged to, and what the motive behind the arson was. There are many people who are workers of political parties but are also associated with the Maratha Kranti Morcha… their roles will be probed.”
Manohar Wadekar, a member of Maratha Kranti Morcha and one of the organisers of the rally in Chakan, said, “Our rally was conducted as per the permission given to us by the police. Those resorting to violence were not members of the Morcha and we don’t know who they were. Clearly, their motive was sabotaging the agitation for Maratha reservation and maligning the image of the movement. They should be located and put behind bars.”