Mob attacks cops on anti-encroachment drive

Vadodara/ Anand: A police party which had reached the Tunki Gali area opposite supermarket near Anand railway station to disperse a mob was attacked by miscreants comprising encroachers and roadside vendors on Sunday afternoon.
The mob had blocked the main road by setting ablaze a handcart and stopping a state transport corporation bus thereby creating a ‘chakka jam’.
After the mob went out of control and gheraoed police personnel and also started attacking the police party, cops resorted to lathi charge to disperse the riotous mob. Twenty accused were booked for violence.
Tension gripped the Tunki Gali area since Sunday morning after Anand city’s traffic police tried to remove a roadside encroachment there that had been causing traffic hurdles for quite some time.
At around 9 am, when the traffic cops reached the spot, a crowd of cart vendors in the area entered into heated arguments with the police personnel. \
The cops left the spot then but returned when they were informed that the mob set a cart on fire and had blocked vehicular movement on that stretch.
According to police sources, the mob armed with sticks, iron pipes and sharp-edged weapons gheraoed the police when they reached the spot.
In the attack, a police constable received injuries on his leg. There were also reports that the mob had tried to pour kerosene and set ablaze police sub inspector Anirudh Gohil, who was leading the party.
Gohil, however, told TOI that few drops of kerosene had fell on him but he was at a safe distance when the mob was trying to pour kerosene on a few vehicles.
All the 20 accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for deterring public servants from performing their duties, rioting, damaging public property among others.