New Delhi, Aug 12 (IBNS): The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday slammed the Congress government in Maharashtra for its intelligence failure in anticipating the Mumbai outburst that left two people dead a day ago after a protest meeting over Assam situation turned violent.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said it was rioting that occurred on Saturday and the government has to answer for that.
"It is a complete failure of the security and intelligence network of the Maharashtra government," she said referring to the Azad Maidan incident.
She said the incident created a fear psychosis in the the minds of people.
"Even women cops were molested while many policemen were injured," Sitharaman said.
At least 24 people were arrested for indulging in violence on Saturday during an agitation to decry the Assam situation even as the Mumbai Crime branch has begun probing the cause of the protest turning violent and causing two deaths.
The probe was ordered by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Mumbai Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy said they are studying the CCTV and video footages and would take action on the people behind it.
He said they are also studying if the speeches were inflammatory.
The protest meeting was at Azad Maidan in Mumbai but it turned violent in the afternoon and police had to fire in the air and resort to lathicharge to control the mob.
Large number of protesters assembled at the venue on Saturday following a call by an organization called Raza Academy to denounce the ongoing Assam violence.
However, the protest meeting turned violent at around 3:30 pm leading to attacks on vehicles and mediapersons.
Several vehicles, including media vans, were damaged.
According to reports, 10 BEST buses and even police vehicles were damaged during the incident.
A police vehicle was reportedly torched by the protesters.
Reports said some OB vans of media houses were also set on fire.
