MAGNITUDE OF STIR CAUGHT US OFF GUARD, SAY MUMBAI COPS

MUMBAI: The Director General of Police’s (DGP) office had on Monday night sounded an alert about possible agitations by Dalit groups but the city police was caught off guard by the magnitude of the protests, senior Mumbai police officials said.

“We had some idea about possible protests, but we never expected the outpouring that followed in the city,” said Sachin Patil, deputy commissioner of police (operations), and the nodal officer for the deployment of police personnel.

A top Mumbai police official, who asked not to be identified, said the state-wide alert sounded by the DGP’S office was “general” in nature, something that is routinely issued in the aftermath of any kind of violence in Maharashtra.

Personnel had been kept in reserve, he added, but their mobilisation became difficult as the situation deteriorated more rapidly than expected.

“We had made overnight deployments in some volatile pockets and stepped up night patrolling. We had kept a lot of our reserve forces ready. We thought we would move the forces gradually as and when the need arose. The plans failed as the footfall went beyond our expectations and roads were blocked more quickly than we had anticipated,” he said.

Meanwhile, DCP Patil said that heavier-than-usual morning traffic on the Eastern Express Highway — as people returned to Mumbai after the long weekend — coincided with the initial protests by small groups at Kamraj Nagar, Powai and Ramabai Nagar.

“As we cleared them from one road, they moved to another and blocked alternative routes,” he said.