Shiv Sainiks attack TV channel office; 8 held

The Shiv Sena and a little-known outfit called the Swaraj Sena attacked the offices of Colors channel in Andheri and Vile Parle, objecting to its new musical reality show, which features eight Pakistani contestants, apart from Indians. Sur Kshetra is scheduled to start from September 8 and will be aired on Colors TV and Sahara One.

The Shiv Sena and a little-known outfit called the Swaraj Sena attacked the offices of Colors channel in Andheri and Vile Parle, objecting to its new musical reality show, which features eight Pakistani contestants, apart from Indians. Sur Kshetra is scheduled to start from September 8 and will be aired on Colors TV and Sahara One.

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The incident took place on Thursday night, when 15 men stormed into the channel’s office on Parsi Panchayat Road in Andheri (east). “The office has shifted to Vile Parle, but attackers, armed with rods, smashed five monitors, a glass table and the hard discs left behind,” said Prakash Wadkar, assistant police commissioner, Andheri division.

Around midnight, two men on a bike pelted stones at Viacom 18’s office in Vile Parle. Viacom 18 owns Colors. The newly floated political outfit Swaraj Sena claimed responsibility for this incident.

Based on CCTV footage obtained from Colors office, eight Sena workers have been arrested.

The damage has been to the tune of Rs two lakh, the police said.

Though the Sena has gone on the aggressive, it is Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray who started the controversy by objecting to singer Asha Bhosle being part of the jury of the show. However, after the show’s co-producer and creative heads met him on Thursday, he is said to have agreed to withdraw the MNS stir on the condition that the channels won’t host any more shows with Pakistani artistes.