Slogan-shouting youth believed to be Shiv Sainiks went on the rampage in the India Today office on Friday, smashing computer screens and destroying furniture with iron rods and sticks.
The glass door at the entrance to the magazine’s plush office on the fifth floor of Jolly Maker building at Nariman Point was smashed to smithereens. The Sainiks shouted "Mani Shankar Murdabad" and protested against the petroleum minister being invited to an awards function by the magazine’s sister publication, Business Today.
According to an Aaj Tak staffer, 15 to 16 Sainiks barged into the India Today office at approximately 5.15 pm on Friday and began smashing everything in sight. Sixteen computers were destroyed, the staffer said. There were eight members of the India Today staff in the office at the time. One of them was injured and bleeding. The Shiv Sainiks went away after about 45 minutes.
Shiv Sena MLAs Sada Sarvankar and Arvind Nerkar have been arrested in connection with the attack.
Senior Sena leader and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Narayan Rane said he had just heard about the incident at the India Today office. He said the Sainiks went to the office as they heard that Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar was to be interviewed there. Mr Rane said that he would look into the incident.
The Sainiks had last year sworn that they would not allow Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar into Mumbai following "disparaging" remarks that he had allegedly made against freedom fighter Veer Savarkar. Mr Aiyar had ordered the removal of Savarkar’s name and a poem written by him from a plaque at the Andaman Islands jail where Savarkar had been incarcerated by the British.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister and home minister R.R. Patil visited the office, got a first-hand account of what happened and promised to look into the incident.
Mr Aiyar was the chief guest at the Business Today awards function at the Taj Mahal Hotel. The Shiv Sainiks, including a lot of women, shouted slogans outside the hotel later on Friday evening. The police tried to calm them, but they turned unruly.
South Mumbai Sena pramukh Bala Kalsekar said, "Shiv Sainiks will never tolerate the presence of Mr Aiyar in Maharashtra. The Sainiks staged a protest outside the Taj Mahal Hotel where he was supposed to come to attend an awards distribution programme." However, Mr Kalsekar refused to comment on the violent incident at the office of India Today. "I am not aware of it," was all that he said.
Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Ahmed Javed said, "Some people rushed into the office of India Today and Business Today at Jolly Maker and ransacked the office furniture and equipment. The identity of the people has yet to ascertained," he said.
