Click to play videoMumbai: A man was gunned down after he allegedly shot and injured a person and shouted slogans against Maharashtra Navnirman Seva (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray in a bus in Mumbai on Monday.
Police claim 23-year-old Rahul Raj, a resident of Patna who was visiting Mumbai, was mentally unstable but this hasn’t been verified yet.
He allegedly shot and injured the conductor of a double-decker bus and also fired in the air to scare the passengers at around 0930 hours IST in the northeast suburb of Kurla. Police arrived soon after and shot him dead.
Uttam Khobragade, general manager of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), said the gunman was shouting that he wanted to send a message to Thackeray.
''He was shouting ‘Mein Patna se aaya hu, mujhe kisi ko kuchh nahi karna hai, mein MNS president Raj Thackeray ko message dena chahata hu’ (I have come from Patna. I don’t want to harm anyone. I wanted to pass on a message to Raj Thackeray),'' said Khobragade.
Raj allegedly shot at the conductor when he asked him to buy a ticket. Another conductor of the same bus went to a nearby police station and called the authorities.
TV footage of the incident showed Raj shouting and waving his gun. He is also seen threatening policemen nearby and running up and down the bus before being shot dead.
"It is being verified whether the person was trying to take hostage aboard the bus. He fired at the police in Bail Bazaar area of Kurla and was shot in retaliatory fire," said Rakesh Maria, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime).
Milind Bharambe, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone V, said the police asked Raj to drop his pistol but he refused. “We warned him, but he started firing so we fired in retaliation,” said Bharambe.
Raj was admitted to the Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, where he was declared dead on admission.
His father, Kundan Kumar, told CNN-IBN in Patna his son had gone to Mumbai to look for a job. “He had nothing to do with politics,” said Kumar, a schoolteacher.
The Maharashtra government restored Thackeray's security to Z-category, the highest possible. His security had been reduced to Y category after he was arrested on Tuesday.
Thackeray was arrested and released on bail after his party workers attacked North Indian candidates write exams for a railway jobs in Maharashtra on October 19.
(With inputs from PTI, UNI and CNN-IBN)
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
More on IBNLive Right Now
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
