One man died today during violent protests led by Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane’s son against water scarcity here that saw police lathicharge against the protesters amidst controversy whether the death occured owing to the police action.
The deceased was identified as 43-year-old Viral Dholakia who was declared brought dead at G T Hospital.
Additional Commissioner of Police R K Padmanabhan said Dholakia died of heart attack. Superintendent of G T Hospital A V Kulkarni said the deceased did not have any injury marks on his body. Hundreds of people from the island city and the suburbs had collected in front of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters around noon under the banner of Swabhiman, an NGO run by Rane's son to protest 15 per cent cut introduced in the wake of poor rainfall during monsoon.
Waving red flags and shouting slogans against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the agitators pulled down barricades put up by police and tried to barge into the headquarters of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, after which the police resorted to baton-charge. Police arrested 14 people, including Nitesh who was, however, granted him bail by a local court. He and 13 others were booked for rioting, obstructing a public servant from doing his duty and causing damage to public property. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai said it would not withdraw the cut in water supply forced by a poor monsoon that affected availability of water in lakes and reservoirs.