Breaking News: Mumbai Demolition Drive Turns Violent, 19 Arrested After Stone Pelting | India Today

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Shocking images from Mumbai. We're shifting our focus to the state of Maharashtra now. It's a demolition drive that's underway. On camera, you can see a protester throws a cement slab at a cop. May 20th is when we see when we witness stone pelting during the Berry Bandra demolition. This is Gared Nagar we are speaking of where a 4-day long demolition drive is underway and this is to tackle the illegal encroachment in that very area. The attacker was Saddam Ansari who's now been arrested by the cops. Several people on the very first day that was May 20th were detained uh right after the stone pelting started.

[00:00:40]Saddam was seen amongst them this particular accused Saddam was seen with a cement slab and that's what he attempted to throw to attack the cops who were deployed at the very place to control and monitor the very demolition drive that was underway. Bandra Bandra Garibagar stone pelting case is what we're taking you through what we're reporting about uh at this hour. Vidya joining us on the broadcast with more details of the same. Vidya the demolition drive still continues but what really comes out to be concerning is the stone pelting cases. this one case that's been highlighted of of one of those uh who's been arrested from this very region Saddam Ansari who picked up a cement slab and he was about to throw it at the very cops who were deployed at that region to monitor the situation.

[00:01:33]Uh well in fact uh you know there were 10 uh you know people who had been injured in the entire stone pelting that happened day four yesterday and in fact in that six cops were the ones who were injured minor injuries to some some a little severe but then because of the injuries you know the cops certainly not going down they will take action against uh those stone pelters and that's one of the reasons remember it's from this particular area where you see uh that tractor there that's where the stone pelting had really happened. This is the demolition site. You can see the cops ahead uh in large numbers standing by assuring the people that whatever work has to be completed by in a day or two all this rubble will be taken away and the ground will be cleared. But certainly the Mumbai police on the other hand while trying to ensure that the law and order uh is established is also trying to ensure that those who took law in their hand they are not let off and that's one of the reasons 19 people have so far been arrested in which one is a minor and he has not been produced in court but so far 15 were produced in court yesterday remanded to police custody till May 26. In the meantime, three more arrests have been made last night, including that of Saddam. And the police says that he is one of the main stone pelters in this case. And he will be produced in court today, later in the afternoon. You know, Vidya, one question that remains is the entire stone pelting U episode that that took place. This was an order. of the bulldozer action that's taken place the demolition drive rather that's taken place that's the more appropriate name is against illegal encroachment so these people who are residents of this of this very area Garibagar in Bandra they were illegally residing in these very houses or at least the houses that were built for them those were illegal this is government action that's taking place and this is serious crime when we take a look at how the episode in fact panned out really violent behavior from these locals in the region.

[00:03:41]In fact uh you know this entire place in the last many decades has seen many action by because this entire uh land really belongs to the western railway and it needs this land which is worth about 600 crores uh for developing a integrated you know passenger terminal for south uh people traveling outstation outside Mumbai or even in local trains you know these services are very important for the people of Mumbai and that's one of the reasons why this entire develop velopment. However, because of legal proceedings that had been going on in the Bombay High Court, the action for the last since 2017 could not have been taken and this area really proliferated. People came in built homes in according to a lot of politicians there are slum lords who are building these and making ensuring that people like the poor people really come in and stay here. Amongst all this because the uh high court gave a green signal asking the authorities to take action so that the construction of the projects can really happen. Amongst this we saw as to how according to the people here they did not get any notice. However, the authorities say that they had given notices. In between all that the action did start couple of days ago and we did see almost the entire rubble. You can see uh you know lot of decades that have people have spent here. Uh you know it's all gone down in trash right now. People are just collecting a little bit of scrap and removing as much as they can for whatever is left. But you can see the entire just about 100 homes are here are protected by the high court. Rest everything else needs to be removed by the authorities so that the mega project that they plan to do can be undertaken.

[00:05:21]>> Very true vidya. And this very demolition drive has now become quite a violent episode in Maharashtra. Another thing is the act the the the the arrests that have taken place and the demolition drive with it continuing what seems to be the pulse on the ground today. Have people calmed down a little bit in this very region or uh is there tension still brewing?

[00:05:48]>> Well, the the anger is there. People are very angry at the way they have been removed. Remember leave leaving a home that you've lived in for decades is not easy and that too in an area like Bandra wherein you know the roads are accessible, the trains are accessible.

[00:06:04]It it's it's certainly a home that people had lived and built it and themselves you know slums are generally built by people themselves and um this is what we have seen here. So uh the sorrow the anger the especially this beating heat of May month you know it's all taking the toll but certainly the police is trying their best there are intelligence department people who are who are working here there are police uh presence in large numbers if I can show you even there right now right across where the bulldozers the where the cranes are there you can see large number of police personnel being briefed as to what they really need to be doing to ensure that people do not really erupt again the way they had erupted 2 days ago. So certainly uh you know the precautions are being taken by the uh administration but because we did see that skirmishes in fact it was not just one but two skirmishes that had happened day before yesterday one right here and one there and in between all that when the stone pelting really hit people uh you know it really angered the administration as well and they started doing the latti charge. So in between that 10 people were injured but trying to ensure that this does not happen again is something that the administration is trying their best at right now. Right, Vidya, thank you for bringing us all those details.