On Monday, a video of police officers smashing furniture from two restaurants and fighting with the proprietors went popular on social media. A caption accompanying the video said that the police were doing “dadagiri” after one of the establishment’s proprietors asked them to pay for a water bottle. Police assert that they were, however, clearing the two residences close to the Ganeshpeth bus stop of any encroachment.
Bharat Kshir Sagar, a senior police inspector at the Ganeshpeth police station, stated that the authorities had been notified of an encroachment by the hotels Ambika and Swad close to the Ganeshpeth bus stop.
“The call was made by a person whose shop is behind the restaurants. The restaurant owners had encroached the area as well as blocked the entry road to the shops over which the shopkeeper had called upon police,” he said. PI Kshirsagar added that when restaurant owners were asked to remove the encroach ment they refused and started an argument. “So, the police removed the encroachment. The claims that cops took ac tion over payment of water
bottles are baseless,” he said. PI Kshirsagar also said that a case will be registered against the owners followinga complaint from the shop keeper. Interestingly, removal of encroachment is the pri mary job of NMC. However, after 6.30pm the NMC officials are not available to take action. Also, rather than seizing the items, the cops were seen throwing furniture and other items on the road.
