Police Commissioner Maniram, however, contradicted the charge, telling Express Newsline, ``The incident was immediately brought under control''.

Pressed to comment further, however, he said, ``Almost all police officials were on duty till 2 a.m. on Wednesday night because of the Ganeshotsav. And this thing occurred early in the morning''.

Conceding that the police, along with riot control vehicles and additional forces had reached the spot ``a little late'', Maniram defended the Kapodara police's handling of the situation as ``it was very large''.

Asked about the police-public assault on Tripathi at the Kapodara police station, Additional Commissioner P C Thakur side-stepped the question, maintaining that the local leader had a dubious record and had been arrested just last week in a harassment case.

Maniram, when questioned about the incident, however, said, ``All the people present there were demanding that Tripathi be beaten up. In fact, there was no complaint against the mob, but against Tripathi. But the police immediately took him into custody.''

One PI however expressed resentment at the public assault, saying, ``Tomorrow, if the public demands a police inspector be beaten up in public, will the police comply with that also?''

Later in the day, the police arrested trade union and Congress leader Urmila Rana and Raghunath Panwalla, both of whom were named in the FIR, along with Purshottam Tripathi. ``Practically everyone against whom the public raised their voice today have been taken into custody'', Maniram said. ``The others will be arrested soon.''

Earlier in the day, the 300-odd people who had been picked up at the KIE were packed into two small rooms at the Kapodara police station. The ones who could not be accommodated there were directed into a room for seized vehicles, while still others were asked to squat in an open space with three constables on guard.

For once, meanwhile, it wasn't an PSO accepting complaints. Senior police officials were roped in to pacify the people -- mostly unit-owners at the KIE -- all of whom who wanted to file a FIR.

Although Kapodara was peaceful after the incident, Maniram said he had directed the police to keep a round-the-clock vigil in the area.