MNS workers ransack toll plaza in Raj Thackeray's presence

THANE: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers on Thursday afternoon vandalized a toll plaza in Kharegaon after a female party functionary refused to pay the toll and called up party colleagues, alleging a toll staffer had used derogatory language against party chief Raj Thackeray. The attack on the booth happened in the presence of Thackeray, whose convoy passed through the plaza a few hours after the incident.
Police sources said Shagufta Pimple along with Kalyani Kapote and some party members from Kalyan was scheduled to visit Kalwa police station to file a complaint of a stolen mobile phone around 1.15 pm. Her car was intercepted by an attendant and she was told to pay the toll. But she refused and demanded facilities like an ambulance and toilets. She claimed that the attendant used derogatory language against Thackeray.
Within a few minutes, MNS workers gathered at the toll naka, demanding strict action against the employee. The attendant was taken into custody by the Kalwa police but MNS workers sought to know his name and details, and they also wanted to ''see him''.
As a huge crowd of MNS workers had gathered, the police called in a Vajra riot control van, a State Reserve Police Force battalion and forces from zone 1 at 3pm.
The crowd of MNS supporters surged till 4.30pm and the police rounded up some functionaries. At 4.45pm, Thackeray's convoy reached around 50m from the toll naka. It stopped in the middle of the Nashik highway for a few minutes and Thackeray interacted with the MNS workers. The convoy was then escorted to the booth by bodyguards.
As the car in which Thackeray reached the booth was stationed there for a few minutes, an MNS worker broke the glass of the booth with his hand. Others, in Thackeray's presence, attacked the booth and broke computers and other equipment in the cabin, in the presence of deputy commissioner of police Ashok Dudhe and nearly 150 police personnel. It was only then that the police swung into action and lathi-charged the workers and detained around 20 of them.
The police were in the process of filing a case when reports last came in late at night.