Police start probing Mumbai violence

Mumbai, Aug 12 (IANS) Mumbai Police have started probing Saturday's violence during a Muslim procession which left two dead and 100 injured, including 45 policemen, a police official said Sunday.

"We have set up a special team to investigate the entire incident and find out the causes and the people behind it," Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy told the media.

Roy said police were also studying the speeches of organisers to determine if they were provocative or inflammatory.

CCTV records are being scanned to identify the rioters responsible for the violence which left half of Mumbai paralysed for several hours.

The trouble affected a two kilometre radius around Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, opposite which the Azad Maidan, the main venue of the Saturday procession, is situated.

Roy said the extent of damage to public and private property was being studied. He added that the organisers will be ordered to compensate for it as per the laws.

In a related development, police have detained 23 people from south Mumbai for the violence.

They are being interrogated to know their antecedents and role in the violence that erupted during the massive procession taken out by Muslim groups to condemn attacks on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar, police said.

The violence followed alleged provocative speeches made by some leaders who urged the media not to suppress the coverage of the "atrocities" on Muslims.

Soon after the speech, a group of youths started attacking some journalists and police personnel and damaged public and private vehicles.

Taking the police and organisers by surprise, the attacks quickly spread, engulfing the media, police, even some participants in the procession, vehicles and media vans.

At the final count, 49 BEST buses were damaged, 12 police vans were damaged, including three which were burnt, 50 private vehicles, including three OB vans of private TV channels, which were torched.

The final toll in yesterday's violence was two dead and another 100 injured, including 45 policemen and three media persons, according to the City Disaster Control Centre.

The injured were rushed to public and private hospitals, of whom 34 have been discharged. The rest remain under treatment, officials said.