Night attack on sleeping sadhus at Siddhivinayak
Express News Service Posted online: Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 at 2326 hrs
Mumbai : A group of masked men, suspected to be MNS supporters,
attacked sadhus sleeping outside Siddhivinayak Temple on Monday night,
beating them up with bamboo sticks, calling them drug addicts and
telling them they should not be seen in the vicinity any more "if they
valued their lives".
The assault followed the Akhil Bharatiya Brahmin Mahasangh's alleged
announcement of a Rs 1-crore award to anyone who could slap MNS chief
Raj Thackeray. The Dadar police suspect a connection but the MNS has
denied any involvement.
The police detained some suspects and registered a case of rioting,
assault and criminal intimidation against unknown persons. They said
the sadhus are frequent visitors but not affiliated to any religious
or North Indian outfit.
"They tie sacred threads on the wrists of devotees and earn dakshina.
Tuesdays being auspicious, they would arrive on Monday night and sleep
on the open ground. Around 12.30 am, around seven to eight men,
handkerchiefs tied around their faces, suddenly arrived and beat them
up with bamboo sticks," said DCP (Zone V) Milind Bharambe. The sadhus
suffered minor bruises.
"It is too early to say the attackers definitely belong to the MNS but
there is obviously a connection between the MNS and the background to
the incident," said JCP (Law and Order) Himanshu Roy.
While denying his party's role, the MNS's Dadar vibhag pramukh,
Yeshwant Killedar, still saw a justification for the attack. "Some
local youths were fed up with the sadhus smoking in the area and dealt
with it their own way. These sadhus are frauds who come here from
villages up north to earn easy money," he said.
The police are also contemplating legal action against two TV
cameramen who had been allegedly informed in advance by the attackers,
and who captured the entire incident, Roy said. The footage is helping
identify absconders.
Sunil Shastri, one of the16 attacked sadhus, said, "We earn our meagre
livelihood by tying holy threads on wrists. When they woke us we
thought they were robbers, but before we could ask they began beating
us all up, calling us 'charasis' and 'beggars' and telling us not to
return here."
It was Shastri who filed the police complaint.
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