Mumbai: Twelve villagers were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the assault on officers from the Mumbai Police’s Special Branch on Tuesday. Officers with NRI Coastal police station said all arrested accused are from Kombadbhuje village in Ulwe, near Belapur, and were held on the basis of eyewitness accounts and a video shot by the Special Branch officers.
Those arrested have been identified as Ketan Dyaneshwar Koli, 22, Rohan Raju Koli, 21, Avarshan Mahadev Koli, 23, Sarvesh Pandarinath Koli, 28, Sudarshan Dyaneshwar Koli, 29, Balaram Valkya Koli, 52, Vinayak Uttam Koli, 24, Kalpesh Bharat Koli, 25, Gajanan Rohidas Bhagat, 29, Jayesh Janardhan Bhoir, 25, Sharad Krishna Koli, 37, and Rajesh Hoshya koli, 31. Police said all work in the fishing industry. They were produced in a court in Panvel and remanded in police custody till March 12.
A pre-dawn Special Branch drive against Bangladeshi nationals staying illegally in Kombadbujhe village turned violent when village vigilantes on patrol mistook them for thieves and assaulted them. The police team led by PSI Chandrakant Koyande and six constables including a woman personnel had parked their vehicle on the village’s outskirts around 3 a.m., and four of them entered the village. They were set upon by a mob of around 150 men and 25 women, who proceeded to thrash them mercilessly.
Senior PI Shekhar Bagde, NRI Coastal police station, said, “Even after we reached the village to rescue them, the villagers didn’t stop the assault. It took us nearly an hour to escort the police team to safety. We had to take the help of the Navi Mumbai Police Commissionerate’s Riot Control Force. The officers were brutally thrashed with bamboo poles and sticks. We will be making more arrests.”
While PSI Koyande received minor injuries, three constables sustained fractures and internal injuries. They have been admitted to MGM Hospital in Vashi. The forensic team has seized the sticks used in the assault and collected blood samples found on the ground after the incident. The accused were charged with rioting, outraging the modesty of a women, detering a public servant from discharging his duty and voluntarily causing grievous hurt under the IPC read with section 37(1) and 137 of the Mumbai Police Act.
