Stone pelting during rally to protest mob lynching

Yavatmal: Police were on their toes after miscreants damaged shops in Umarkhed town in the district during a silent rally organized by the local unit of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Monday to protest mob lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand recently.

When the morcha reached Naag Chowk, a few anti social elements among the participants started pelting stones at shops in the main market . At least five shops were damaged and three workers injured in the incident. Miscreants also damaged push carts and two-wheelers kept on the road side.

Cops on bandobast informed Umarkhed police station from where additional force was deployed and the situation was brough under control. Aggrieved shopkeepers pulled down their shutters and marched to the police station. They staged a dharna in the station demanding arrest of the miscreants.

On a complaint lodged by constable Sandeep Thakur, offence was registered under sections 143, 147, 149, 324 and 427 of IPC against 30 persons. Twelve of them, including Syed Irfan Syed Yusuf, organizer of the rally, were arrested.

Superintendent of police M Rajkumar and additional SP Amarsingh Jadhav rushed to the town and are monitoring the situation. “We have brought the situation under control. The shops have reopened now,” Rajkumar told TOI.

Another morcha was organized by the Muslim outfit in adjoining Kali Daulatbad village in Pusad tehsil. The market there remained closed for the day. “No untoward incident was reported from other parts of the district,” Rajkumar said.


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