Mumbai: 3 more Bombay House guards held for assaulting photojournalists

Three days after a group of security guards stationed outside Tata Group headquarters — Bombay House — attacked several photojournalists, the Mumbai police on Monday arrested three more accused.

Three days after a group of security guards stationed outside Tata Group headquarters — Bombay House — attacked several photojournalists, the Mumbai police on Monday arrested three more accused in the case. While the total number of arrests in the case has touched five, officials said more arrests are likely.

A photojournalist being beaten up by Bombay House security guards on Friday. (HT File Photo)

The arrested accused were identified as Shankar Ayyar, 41, Ashok Bamne, 41, and Manvir Prajapati, 28, who were also undergoing treatment for the injuries they had suffered. “They were admitted in the hospital and were discharged on Monday only to be arrested for their role in the incident targeting photojournalists,” said Ashok Dudhe, Mumbai police spokesperson.

The officials said the assaulted lensmen had identified the trio with the help of the photographs that were shown to them, following which the arrests were made. The three photographers were also discharged from the hospital on Monday and will be taken to the spot by the cops to ascertain the sequence of events on Tuesday.

“Finally a CT-scan was conducted after repeated requests instead of dolling out a discharge certificate on Monday and the doctors said there was nothing wrong in the reports. Only then I was discharged,” said Arijit Sen, the HT photojournalist who got injured in the attack.

The police earlier arrested Ganesh Shinde and Mayuresh Gurav for being a part of the bunch of assaulters who targeted the photographers after they tried to break into the cordon to click Mistry’s pictures outside the Tata Group headquarters. The team of security personnel attacked the photographers after one of their men fell down in the process.

A case of unlawful assembly, voluntarily causing grevious hurt, rioting was registered under the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the Maharashtra Police Act against the accused.