43 arrested in Mumbai's Azad Maidan violence case

Nineteen more people have been arrested in connection with the Azad Maidan violence in Mumbai on August 11, taking the total number of arrests in the case so far to 43. The police said, they were arrested since last evening from various parts of the city. Two of them, identified as Niyazuddin Shaikh (28) and Mohammed Hussain Ansari (21), were produced before a metropolitan magistrate court which remanded them in police custody till August 28. “We have the CCTV footage in which the two were shown rioting along with the mob that indulged in destruction of property,” police told the court. [caption id=“attachment_426739” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The accused were involved in various violent acts like pelting stones, torching the vehicles and beating policemen. PTI[/caption] The remaining 17 accused will be produced before the court tomorrow. The accused were involved in various violent acts like pelting stones, torching the vehicles and beating policemen, they said adding that seven or eight of them were suspected to have a criminal background. Two people were killed and 52, including 44 policemen, were injured on August 11 when a rally called to protest alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar turned violent. The protesters went on a rampage, attacking the police, including some women constables, torching media and police vehicles, smashing cameras of photo journalists and damaging buses. A day after the riots, police had arrested 23 people in connection with the incident. Subsequently on Thursday, Salim Allarakha Choukiya alias Ali (23), who had snatched a rifle from the police during the riots, had been arrested from Anand nagar area of suburban Oshiwara. PTI