Malegaon Police refutes reports of attack, stone pelting

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Malegaon Police refutes reports of attack, stone pelting

Eyewitnesses said there was some altercation between police and residents of the area near Khyaban-e-Neshat Chowk

Thursday April 23, 2020 10:07 PM, ummid.com Staff Reporter

[People in Malegaon by and large are following the lockdown norms, though, like any other city, there are also reports of violations from some parts. (Photo: Zohair M Safwan/ummid.com)]

Malegaon: There has been no attack or stone pelting on police in Malegaon, local police department said Thursday asking people not to get carried away by fake news and rumour mongring.

Talking to ummid.com eyewitnesses said there was some altercation on Thursday morning between the police and residents of the area near Khyaban-e-Neshat Chowk which is sealed because of Covid-19 outbreak.

The trigger point of the altercation was police beating the people who came out to buy food essentials in the morning hours when the lockdown is normally relaxed.

Some of those gathered there to protest police atrocities crossed the nearby Allama Iqbal Pul - the bridge that links Malegaon Central and Malegaon Outer constituencies, and in an attempt to cross over to the other side removed the police barricade.

A video of the incident went viral on social media and also broadcast by some TV channels. While broadcasting the video, some TV anchors termed the incident "an attempt to attack the police", while some news portals, involved in peddling fake news about Palghar mob lynching, went on the extent of calling it "attack on the police personnel on duty".

The police however refuted all these reports and asked people not to get carried away by rumours and fake news.

According to the police, the problem arose as essentials, milk and vegetables were in short supply on account of the scarcity faced by authorised vendors of the goods.

Seeing people from the containment area trying to remove police barricades, people from adjoining non-containment areas also gathered, asking police not to allow the former for the fear of spreading the infection.

"We convinced people from both the sides to go back to their respective homes, while assuring them of the supplies at the earliest," Malegaon ASP Sandip Ghuge told Mumbai Mirror adding that no untoward incident occurred during the interfaces.

Malegaon Lockdown News

[Some TV channels linked the incident with people going for Namaaz - Muslim prayers. Police and eyewitnesses however said the incident occurred at about 08:30 in the morning Thursday, not at the time of any Namaaz. (screen grab)]

ASP Sandip Ghuge also said that so far around 115 people allegedly involved in the incident have been identified. The process of registering the offences against them under different sections of IPC is presently underway at the Killa Police Station.

"We are booking people for defying the curfew and social distancing norms," he said adding that adequate deployment of force has been made to maintain peace.

Coronavirus outbreak was first reported in Malegaon on April 8. Ever since then the city has seen a significant jump in Covid 19 positive cases. Doctors said number of Covid-19 positive cases in Malegaon have been detected because a number of people approached hospitals for testing.

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