Raj in jail, Mumbai under siege | Rampage victim dies

MAYHEM IN MUMBAI: With the news of Raj's arrest MNS activists were on the streets venting their anger.

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Mumbai: At 0300 hrs IST on Tuesday, the Maharashtra government finally acted after days of dithering. Maharashtra Police arrested Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief, Raj Thackeray from Ratanagiri, 380 km from Mumbai.

Raj Thackeray was arrested for provoking hatred among communities as his supporters vented their anger by indulging in mindless violence and torching public transport to hold India's financial capital to ransom.

The news of his arrest reached the metropolis before he did and even that early in the day, MNS activists were on the streets, venting their anger on private and government property.

As the day progressed, so did the violence on Mumbai's streets. Public transport was targetted, taxis and scooters stayed off the roads, shops and schools shut down in several areas to avoid any trouble. The office of the state Congress spokesperson Sanjay Nirupam was also vandalised.

Broken glass pieces on the road were evidence enough of the conflict between security agencies and unruly MNS supporters. The incident may be Raj Thackeray's opportunity to gain political mileage and show political strength to his opponents, but for an average Mumbaikar this is nothing but hooliganism, an identity the MNS seems to be proud of.

There was no curfew but office goers were told to return home and many commercial establishments, especially those run or managed by non-Maharashtrians, chose not to open at all. All schools and colleges closed and most Mumbai streets were deserted as scared residents hid in their houses to avoid the wrath of the MNS.

The toll by mid-afternoon - 38 public buses set on fire, at least 40 private vehicles damaged in stone throwing, 350 taxis and 60 autorickshaws damaged or burnt, nearly 90 percent of the total 105,000 autorickshaws and 66,000 taxis off the roads. And the result, massive inconvenience to Mumbaikars caught in the crossfire as police were forced to fire teargas shells and wield the stick to control the mobs.

Describing the arrest as a cowardly act, MNS' Nagpur unit chief Hemant Gadkari told agencies that about 100 young party workers grouped in four motorcycle squads fanned out to different parts of the city to register their protest.

There was violence in other parts of Maharashtra too. In Satara town, for instance, MNS workers set fire to a bus depot, while in Nagpur several state transport buses were attacked. The police made about 2,000 preventive arrests.

RIPPLES IN BIHAR

The ripples were felt in Bihar too as candidates returned home after the assault. The fact that Pawan Mahto from Nalanda district, one of the hundreds of students from Bihar hoping for a job in railways, died after the attack fuelled the fires.

Pawan's father Jagdish Mahto, who had come here to receive his son's body, said: "The Mumbai police called and said he was killed in a stampede after MNS workers attacked north Indian students at the exam centre."