At least two policemen, including an assistant police inspector, were injured when alleged members of the Irani gang pelted stones at a Mumbai police team that arrested an alleged chain snatcher at Ambivali railway station in Thane district on Wednesday.
The Khadakpada police of Kalyan arrested four persons on the suspicion of involvement in the incident and registered a complaint in various cases including attempted murder, assaulting a government employee.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that a team of MIDC police station went to Ambivali, a village in Murbad taluk, 6 km from Kalyan, to arrest a person who is absconding in the chain snatching case.
Around 9:30 pm, a police team clashed with some aides of the suspect near Ambivali railway station. After they were attacked, the police fled to Ambivali railway station, where they took shelter in a railway office. However, the mob chased them to the railway station and tried to release the arrested accused. Soon, more mobs gathered there and started pelting stones at the railway office, a government railway police official said.
A video of the incident has gone viral on social media. It shows five or six people picking up stones from the railway tracks and throwing them at the police and railway staff. Women were also seen trying to save the arrested suspect.
A GRP official said that railway property was damaged in the incident. “Since the incident first started in Thane police’s city area, they are investigating the matter further,” the official said.
“The incident took place after MIDC police arrested a person and (there is) no involvement of the Railways in any way. (Local train) operations were not affected. Some windows of the station were broken due to stone pelting,” the railways said in a statement.
Police are checking CCTV footage to identify all the attackers. “We have registered an FIR under sections 109, 132, 121, 352, and 351 of the Indian Penal Code and have arrested 30-35 unidentified stone pelters under the Criminal Amendment Act and arrested four persons. Further investigation is on and we are identifying the other suspects. We are,” said Atul Jende, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 3, Thane.
In Ambivali village, there have been incidents where the local community pelted stones at the police vehicle and stopped the police vehicle to arrest the absconding person in the criminal case. The police had failed in this area in the past.