PUNE, August 13 (Agencies): The police have arrested nine persons for allegedly attacking students and working professionals from the northeast living in the Kondhwa area. The suspects thrashed six persons in two separate incidents on Wednesday and Saturday.
Software professional Kahomdai Panmei (28), a Manipuri living in Kondhwa, was attacked by some men near a private hospital in Kondhwa around 8 pm on Wednesday.
The miscreants rained kicks and blows on him and also hit him with iron rods. Later that night, two of Panmei`s friends, who live in the same area and also hail from the northeast, were also attacked.
After Panmei`s complaint on Saturday, the Kondhwa police arrested four men — Tipu Shaikh (19), Ijaz Shaikh (23), Rafiq Shaikh (21) and Matin Pathan (19) — all from Shivnerinagar, Kondhwa.
While the police were registering Panmei`s complaint, a student from Nagaland, Rokuozetuo Ltu (25), was attacked around 8 pm near his residence at Kondhwa Khurd. The police said five or six men barged into Ltu`s flat and thrashed him with iron rods. They also beat up two of his friends, Siran Saing and Finath Haing, who are also students hailing from Nagaland.
Senior inspector of the Kondhwa police station Prasad Hasabnis said five men — Nadim Ansari (18), Imamuddin Kanwade (20), Wasim Shaikh (22), Muzaffar Jamadar (19) and Muzammil Shaikh (18) — all from Kondhwa, have been arrested for the attack on Ltu and his friends.
Hasabnis said all nine attackers, who were arrested over Saturday and Sunday, were allegedly provoked by someone to attack people from the northeast. “Most of the suspects are illiterate. We suspect the victims were targeted to spread fear among people from the northeast,” he said.
Hasabnis said the nine men have been charged under sections 143, 147, 148 and 149 (rioting) and section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. They were produced in court on Sunday and remanded to police custody till August 18.
Cops assure NE students of security
The Kondhwa police on Sunday held a meeting with around 250 students and working professionals from the northeast and assured them of security and protection in the city. The police have prepared a database of around 700 people from the northeast living in the city.
On Saturday, the police held a meeting with prominent citizens, civil society activists and religious heads of different communities. The meeting went on till late in the night. “We told them to help the police maintain peace and nab the miscreants behind the attacks,” deputy commissioner of police Sanjay Jadhav said.
