MNS targets Indiabulls again

Mumbai, March 25 (IANS) Alleged Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers Monday again targeted Indiabulls finance company's office in a Maharashtra town, even as five MNS men were arrested for the attack on the firm's Mumbai office a day earlier, police said.

Five MNS workers were arrested Monday for vandalising the Indiabulls office here. The Sunday attack took place hours after MNS chief Raj Thackeray alleged at a rally at Amravati, 700 km from here, that water meant for drought-hit farmers was being diverted to private companies.

A day after the Mumbai attack, the MNS workers Monday ransacked another Indiabulls office, this time in Amravati, in Vidarbha region.

About 15 men vandalised the the company office premises in Amravati city.

"The incident took place this afternoon at the Indiabulls office located near the collectorate. Men shouting slogans against the company vandalised the premises and broke glass doors and windows. However, a formal complaint is yet to be filed in the case," an official from Amravati's Gadage Nagar police station told IANS.

In Mumbai, Senior Police Inspector Prakash Patil told IANS: "We have arrested five Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party workers for vandalising the Indiabulls building in Lower Parel area. They are being questioned."

Patil said the police are looking at the CCTV footages to identify the culprits.

A group of 10-15 men pelted stones at the security cabin of the main gate of Indiabulls Finance Centre uin Mumbai Sunday night. The glass window of the cabin was smashed. The attackers were shouting slogans against Indiabulls.

Raj Thackeray at Amravati rally said that the water meant for drinking and irrigation in Vidarbha region is being diverted for the Indiabulls thermal power project in Amravati district.

He cited official statistics to reveal how irrigation projects were languishing for decades and though there were astronomical cost escalations, the projects have remained incomplete, even as large parts of the state were grappling with the worst ever drought in four decades.