Enraged over an objectionable post by a man on social media, a group of people from a different community allegedly vandalised a police station in suburban Trombay where he was kept after being arrested, PTI reported.
A Facebook post started it all
The accused, a 20-year-old man, had uploaded a morphed image of a place of worship on Facebook at 6 pm on Saturday but deleted it within a few hours. A complaint was lodged against him for hurting religious sentiments. The man was arrested and booked under IPC section 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to hurt religion).
The mob wanted to deal with the man themselves
An enraged mob thronged the Trombay police station on Saturday night where they pelted stones and even threw fireballs at the officers. The vandals demanded that the accused be handed over to them and in a fit of rage they also set afire some police vehicles outside the police station, additional Commissioner of Police (eastern region) Manoj Lohiya told PTI.
As per a Hindustan Times report, other vehicles were also damaged, a few police officers sustained minor injuries and all the window panes of the police station were damaged.
Police says an AIMIM corporator instigated them
After the incident led to tension in the area, the police arrested 17 people for murder, rioting and damage to public property, including All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) corporator Shahnawaz Shaikh.
In fact, the police said it was Shaikh who instigated the mob.
An officer told Hindustan Times, “The young man who uploaded the image apologised to Shaikh. The corporator should have calmed the mob down. Instead, he instigated the people.”
PTI reports that deputy commissioner of police, Zone-VI, Shahaji Umap said the situation in the area is now under control.
Security has been stepped up in the area to avoid any untoward incident, reports PTI.