BICHOLIM
Bicholim Police late Wednesday night arrested eight workers of SGMEU for allegedly assaulting the worker, Jagdish Arondekar, as he was returning home from duty.
It may be recalled that out of about 400 agitating workers, a group of about 10 workers resumed their duty on Wednesday. In the evening, when Arondekar of Dhabdhaba-Bicholim was returning home, a group of workers assaulted him, seriously injuring him.
Another worker, Govind Lawnis was also assaulted when he went to Arondekar's rescue. When the workers supporting Arondekar came to know about the incident, they rushed to the site and shifted the injured to the hospital. Soon, about 50 workers supporting the injured worker gathered at Bicholim Police demanding the arrest of the assailants.
Acting on the complaint, police arrested Deepak Popkar, Kishore Lokre, Deepak Kinalkar, Sagun Haldankar, Mahesh Kauthankar, Anand Gad, Pandurang Mayekar and Devu Ghatwal under Sections 143, 147, 323, 504, 506-II, 427, 395 r/w Section 149 of IPC.
On Thursday morning, a large number of workers along with their families gathered in front of Bicholim Police station to demand the release of the eight arrested. A strong police force of about 100 police personnel was deployed at the police station area to control the situation.
Bicholim DySP Ramesh Gaonkar, PI Narayan Chimulkar, Valpoi PI Deepak Pednekar, PSI Anand Narvekar and others were also at the police station, as the workers remained seated throughout the day.
In the evening, an advocate on behalf of the arrested workers visited Bicholim Police station along with Bicholim Congress leader Adv Manohar Shirodkar and formalities to release the arrested workers were in progress.
