Mumbai Police seek legal help to act against Raj

New Delhi: The office of the Mumbai Taximen Union in the Mumbai Central area was attacked by a mob of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Thursday in continuing violence against north Indians in the city.

Taxi drivers, most of whom are north Indians, were already on the edge due to repeated attacks by the MNS and the latest incident pushed them to call a strike.

The flash strike was, however, withdrawn soon following an assurance by Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil's assurances that they would be provided adequate security.

But even as several MNS workers have been arrested, over the last five days, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, the man who allegedly triggered the violence, is still walking free.

Mumbai police is yet to take any action against Raj Thackeray despite an FIR filed against him by Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh for threatening and criminal intimidation.

Deputy Commissioner of Police KL Prasad said police was seeking the opinions from senior officers on the matter and scrutinising all the speeches and statements made by Raj and other political leaders for references, which promote enmity on grounds of region and language.

Raj's vitriolic speech against north Indians last week sparked attacks by his partymen on people hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Prasad, who met Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil earlier in the day, said all necessary steps, including arrest, as per the provisions of law will be taken.

He said the police are seeking the opinion of the Advocate General of Maharashtra for action against leaders under Section 153-A of the IPC (promoting enmity on the grounds of region and language).

Patil said the government would not hesitate to arrest Raj and state Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi if there was strong evidence of their involvement in the recent violence in the city and the government was "capable of handling the fallout in case these leaders are arrested".

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, said the state government would study the Advocate General's opinion before taking any action.

"If there is strong evidence we will arrest both Raj Thackeray as well as Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi," Patil, who also holds the home portfolio, said.

Apparently in a prelude to Raj's arrest, three MNS leaders considered close to him, were on Thursday arrested for allegedly conspiring to incite violence in the city.

The three are party's general secretaries Praveen Darekar, Aditya Shirodkar and Nitin Sardesai, Additional Commissioner of Police Rajnish Seth said.

The police earlier arrested 107 people so far in the cases of violence.

On the other hand, Raj dismissed that his party workers were behind the violence against the north Indians in the city.

He said his party workers were instigated and that they had nothing to do with Amitabh Bachchan.

He also rejected demands for his arrest and said Samajwadi Party's Mumbai unit chief Abu Azmi was also walking free even after making offensive comments.

(With inputs from PTI)