Situation is tense in Maharashtra’s Kalyan town, where Raj Thackeray is expected to be produced before a magisterial court later today. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief was arrested by the Mumbai Police in Ratnagiri yesterday and charged with provoking hatred among communities and endangering public safety. The authorities have imposed a preventive curfew in Kalyan beginning 11.00 am to ensure peace. Section 144 is already in place there. There are reports that police have resorted to lathi charge and fired teargas to disperse MNS supporters outside the Kalyan court. Further, arson has also been reported from Bihar’s Barh where two AC bogies of Danapur-Durg South Bihar Express were set on fire by angry students. In New Delhi, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till 2.00 pm amid uproar over violence in parts of Maharashtra following Raj’s arrest. Meanwhile, a Vikroli court has issued a notice to Raj, asking him why his bail should not be cancelled. The court has instructed the MNS chief to reply within a day. The court issued the notice to Raj, saying he violated a condition attached with the bail not to make inciting speeches. Raj spent the night at the Manpada lock-up and police station in Dombivili town of Thane district, near Mumbai. The police had put up a strong security ring around the lock-up, with additional personnel from the Rapid Action Force and State Reserve Police Force. Raj’s wife is sitting on a dharna along with several MNS supporters outside the Manpada police station. The situation in Mumbai and other parts of the state, meanwhile, is tense but peaceful. MNS activists had gone on the rampage here and in many parts of the state yesterday after their chief’s arrest. Thackeray, who was arrested last morning in Ratnagiri, 250 km from here, will be produced before the Kalyan court in connection with a case filed by the police for attacking North Indian candidates who were appearing at a railway recruitment examination last Sunday. The 40-year-old Thackeray – an amateur cartoonist known till less than a year ago essentially as Bal Thackeray's nephew who split from the Shiv Sena to form the MNS – was charged with provoking hatred among communities as well rioting, assault and damage to property after his supporters on Sunday added another chapter to their campaign against non-Maharashtrians. Raj, whose arrest was effected by the Maharashtra government in four separate cases, spent the night in lock-up despite being granted bail. Raj, who had dared the Vilasrao Deshmukh government to arrest him, was produced before the metropolitan court in Bandra yesterday which remanded him to 14-day judicial custody. However, Raj's lawyer immediately moved a bail application after which the court granted him bail on furnishing a bond of Rs 15,000. But police quickly took him back in custody for a similar case in neighbouring Dombivali, in Thane district and whisked him away. Since he could not reach in time, Raj will be produced before the court today, his lawyers said. While granting the bail, Metropolitan Magistrate GR Wankhede asked Thackeray to refrain from threatening or influencing witnesses in any manner, avoid creating any violent situation, and also report for an hour to the Kherwadi Police station for seven days, daily at 11.00 am to help with the investigations. Raj has four cases registered against him for attack on ‘outsiders’, including those at Kherwadi and Kanjurmarg in Mumbai and ones at Thane and Dombivali, SPP in the Kherwadi case Majid Memon said. In Kherwadi case, Thackeray has been charged with provoking riot, assaulting public servants, endangering public safety of others, causing mischief and damage to property. Shortly after the arrest, MNS activists went on a rampage in parts of Mumbai, Nashik, Solapur and Kolhapur attacking shops and pelting stones at scores of buses and taxis. A toll booth in Mulund was targetted and one of the counters was set on fire, police said. Police made about 2,000 preventive arrests and resorted to lathi charge at several places. MNS activists had attacked North Indians candidates who appeared in railway board examination at a centre in Kherwadi in Bandra here on Sunday. Similar attacks took place in neighbouring Thane and Kalyan too. On Tuesday, the police also imposed a two-month gag order on Raj, thus preventing him from addressing public rallies and talking to the media. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil yesterday said that the Centre had sent at least three advisories to the Maharashtra government in the wake of attacks on North Indians by MNS activists. Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil told reporters the government may consider banning MNS. He also said that his government was planning to bring in an ordinance under which destruction of public property could invite hefty penalty and jail of upto five years.
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