Agencies

 
Mumbai, July 11: 13 were from Sena and eight from Samajwadi party; a corporator is held.

The DN Nagar police have arrested 21 people including five Shiv Sena shaka pramukhs, sitting Sena corporator Pandurang Ambre and ex-corporator Mohsin Haider of the Samajwadi party late on Sunday night in connection with Sunday’s clashes between members of two communities in Andheri (west).

Of the arrested, 13 are from the Shiv Sena and eight are from the Samajwadi party.  While the police clamped sections 143, 149 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code against the Sainiks (rioting, carrying weapons and attempt to murder), Samajwadi Party members were booked under sections 356 and 307 (theft and murder attempt).

The accused were produced before the metropolitan magistrate’s court in Andheri and were remanded in police custody till July 14. However, residents and shopkeepers of the locality now say the scuffle took place due to a misunderstanding between the two communities.

Nasir Ahmed, who works in a shoe shop near Jama Masjid in Andheri, said, “A few shops within the mosque premises were targeted by the Shiv Sainiks as they refused to shut down. The Sainiks pelted stones on the shops. However, people belonging to our community read it as an attack on the mosque itself.”

Manohar Nayak, defence lawyer for Sena corporator Pandurang Ambre, said, “It was a politically instigated situation. Ambre and Haider were, in fact, helping to control the situation.”

However, the police version is quite different.  “Ambre came with Sainiks from the Amboli area and forced the shopkeepers to close down. And Haider instigated the crowd, which led to the scuffle between the two communities and injured one of our senior police officers,” said Pradeep Suryavanshi, police inspector of DN Nagar police station.