Migrants morcha: Man booked for social media posts

Mumbai, April 15 (IANS) The Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested a man from Navi Mumbai for allegedly posting messages on social media which triggered a huge horde of migrants in Bandra on Tuesday evening, officials said.

Besides, several other persons have also been booked, including a channel reporter, for alleged fake messages that resulted in the massive jamming.

The prime accused, Vinay Dube, was detained by Navi Mumbai Police early on Wednesday, and after the preliminary questioning was handed over to Bandra Police.

Among other things, he had demanded that the Maharashtra government should make transportation arrangements to ferry the stranded migrants to their native states and called for nationwide protests if the trains were not made operational till April 18.

The move came hours after Home Minister Anil Deshmukh assured stringent action against those spreading mischievous messages via social media.

It is suspected that Dube’s posts may have prompted Tuesday’s gathering – which was controlled and dispersed after a mild caning by the police – that alarmed the state health authorities after asocial distancing’ went for a toss.

A majority of those who joined the protests were from north Indian states and the issue sparked off a political row in Maharashtra.

–IANS

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