Attack was planned, say injured constables

"It definitely seems like a planned attack. How else could such a large mob come prepared with ammunition-like spiked rods, sticks and chains?" asked police constable Arun Sathe as he lay at the hospital bed in ward number 5 of St George Hospital, with his face bandaged except for his eyes and mouth. His nose too was bandaged due to a fracture he suffered when a rioter swung a spiked rod at him. Sathe was one of the 29 injured police officers who were rushed to St George Hospital after the riot broke out at Azad Maidan on Saturday afternoon.

"At no point did we expect the situation to go out of hand and become so serious. The trigger point was when one of the vans was set afire. Things went out of control from there," said Dattatraya Patil, a constable from Azad Maidan police station, who suffered a thigh injury after he was hit by a stone that cut into his nerve. "Within 15 minutes, things went haywire. After a stone hit me, I fainted and was taken to the hospital."

Of the 31 injured people brought to St George Hospital, 29 were police officers. As on Sunday evening, 11 cops were recuperating while the rest had been discharged.

"Most of them have suffered fractures, blunt trauma injuries or scratch bruises. All of them are stable now and expected to be discharged within the next few days," said a doctor.

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