A crowd outside Rabale police station after the clash between NCP and Sena workers at Airoli on Friday morning. (Express Photo by Amit ChakravartyNationalist Congress Party legislator Sandeep Naik and Navi Mumbai Mayor Jayawant Sutar’s vehicles was damaged in stone pelting as party workers clashed with Shiv Sena men on Friday morning over inauguration of a marriage hall in Airoli, police said. Both the parties have lodged counter FIRs, police said.
According to the police, Sutar and Naik were at the inauguration programme when Sena workers gathered at the venue and started to demonstrate. The Sena leaders claimed that since the local corporator belonged to their party, the marriage hall should be inaugurated by Sena MP Rajan Vichare, police said.
As Sena workers resorted to heavy sloganeering, NCP workers retaliated. The situation, police said, had deteriorated when some of the agitators resorted to pelting stones. “No one saw who started the stone pelting, but suddenly stones were being thrown at the vehicles parked in the area. Both Naik and Sutar’s vehicles were damaged,” Prashant Nikam, an eyewitness and a local resident who was present at the event, said.
According to DCP (Zone I) S Pathare, both the parties have lodged FIRs against each other on charges of damaging property, outraging modesty and attempt to murder. “We are collecting the CCTV footage and statements of locals. Once we have evidence, people will be arrested. We have registered both the FIRs,” he said.
Following the scuffle, business establishments in Airoli, Koper Khairane and other nearby areas were shut down for the day.
“We have deploy sufficient police personnel in the area and the situation is under control,” Pathare said. He added that no one was injured in the clash.
