The Indian Penal Code (IPC) section related to criminal conspiracy has been invoked in the case of stone pelting at a Ram Navami procession in Malad late last month, Mumbai police officials said on Monday.
The police arrested 20 people on March 30, in the rioting case in Malvani after a clash between two groups during 'Ram Navami' Shobha Yatra in Malad's Malvani area where around 7000 people were gathered.
How the riots were triggered?
The incident was triggered as the procession was going on and some people objected to the loud music accompanying it, there was stone pelting and other violence that led to several being injured after which the police registered an FIR against 300 unidentified people for jeopardising the atmosphere in the area. The cops soon beefed up their number and successfully managed to control the crowd within a few hours and no casualty was reported.
60 detained, 20 arrested later
The police, for security purposes, had already set up two drones to capture the visuals during the procession. The police detained sixty suspects from the riot and later arrested more than 20 of them using visual identification from the footage generated by the drones. According to the police, as the investigation began, the police recorded statements of an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officer and a police personnel from the Malvani police station on April 2. Both the personnel, in their statements, told the probe team March 30 violence was deliberately orchestrated by the accused persons, including those arrested and wanted. "They sat together near a mosque, by violating the orders prohibiting unlawful assembly, and hatched the conspiracy of the crime, " the official said.
Accordingly, IPC section 120 (B) (punishment of criminal conspiracy) was added to the FIR on April 2 following directions from senior police officials, he said. Earlier, the police had invoked various IPC sections, including 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 145 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Police Act, against the accused.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) which was filed in the case the procession began from Ram Janki temple late in the afternoon and around 7.25 pm, as it was moving towards Jama Masjid, 100 to 150 people objected to the high volume of music as namaz was going on in the mosque. As the music volume was not lowered, there was some slogan-shouting and one of the men who had objected to loud music allegedly hurled a stone at the procession and it hit a child.
