7 injured in attack during protest outside pharma company in Thane; 10 booked

Thane: Seven persons were injured after allegedly being attacked by a group of workers staging a protest outside a pharmaceutical company in Thane district of Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday.

The police have registered a case against 10 attackers in connection with the incident which took place on Monday near the company's premises in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) area in Ambernath, they said.

According to the FIR, the incident occurred at around 12.30 pm on Monday when the accused, who were staging a sit-in protest outside the company's premises, spotted a group of people entering the factory. The reason for the protest was not specified.

The accused, suspecting that the people entering the company were hired to replace them, allegedly hit the victims and also attacked them with sticks.

They chased away the victims and threatened them with dire consequences if they reported to work at the company, an official from Shivaji Nagar police station said.

Seven persons were injured and treated at a local hospital, he said.

Based on a complaint by one of the victims, an FIR was registered on Monday against 10 persons under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 189(2) (unlawful assembly), 191(2) (rioting), 190 (offence committed in prosecution of common object), 118(1) and 118(2) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).

"As of now, no arrest has been made in connection with the incident. We are verifying the sequence of events and gathering further evidence to identify and apprehend the culprits," the official said.