Krishnaraj Rao for BeyondHeadlines
Mumbai, (Sunday, 13th Jan) : Yesterday afternoon, at 3 pm, eight unknown men entered RTI Activist Sulaiman Bhimani’s office with sticks and swords, and smashed a laptop, printer-scanner and computer keyboard.
The attack ended within 10 seconds as Bhimani’s neighbours raised an alarm. While retreating hastily, they slashed wildly at the nameplate with the swords, and kicked at the wooden doorframe, smashing it. Bhimani escaped with only an injury on his finger.
Fortunately, this entire episode was captured on two CCTV cameras installed inside and outside his office. The attached photo shows a man who entered his cabin and struck at his laptop. (The man seen on the right in the pink shirt is NOT Bhimani, he is a visitor. Bhimani, being directly seated under the CCTV camera, is not visible in the footage.)
CCTV outside his office – http://youtu.be/ktZkY3fGwJU
Notes: The man in the blue shirt talking on the phone is a visitor, and he completely fails to react as the people wearing handkerchiefs and carrying sticks and swords walk into the cabin. (This man is the “rounder” of a well known security agency.) While retreating hastily, the assailants slashed wildly at the nameplate with the swords, and kicked at the wooden door frame, smashing it.
CCTV inside his office – http://youtu.be/ofUWXu2qMg8
Notes: A man wearing a T-shirt is seen entering from the main door into the office of Sulaiman Bhimani, and abruptly smashing a laptop, before dropping his stick and fleeing. The other assailants are seen through the glass, swinging wildly to damage the office equipment before they retreat. The attack ended within 10 seconds. Bhimani, who suffered only an injury on his finger, is not seen in the footage as he was seated directly under the CCTV camera. (The man seen on the right in the pink shirt is NOT Bhimani, he is a visitor from a security agency. )
Bhimani feels that the most likely suspects are some people mentioned in this report: http://tinyurl.com/GRace-Sarvadhariya
The builder and unlawful elements mentioned in this report suffered losses of several crores when MMRDA cracked down on them recently, evicted 50 tenants with police action, and served eviction notices on 102 others. They have criminal records, and have threatened Bhimani in the recent past.
FIR was registered under IPC sections 452, 427, 323, 143, 144, 147, 148, 149.
See FIR copy: http://tinyurl.com/Sulaiman-Bhimani-Attack-FIR
