Tension ahead of M East panel ward poll after late-night fracas; 10 held

MUMBAI: Tension prevailed in Govandi ahead of the M East ward committee chairperson election on Monday after a late-night altercation between rival political workers led to arrests and heightened security concerns. Ten people were arrested by the Shivajinagar police.

Around 3 am, Samajwadi Party leader Fahad Azmi allegedly went to the residence of Ateeque Khan, Maharashtra general secretary of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and roundly abused him. Azmi accused Khan of directing party workers to post personal and derogatory remarks on Facebook against Azmi’s wife Saira Azmi, who also happens to be the former corporator of the ward where Atteque’s wife Mehjabeen Khan has been elected this time.

The police said that Khan later went to Azmi’s office and allegedly vandalised the premises in retaliation. Members from both sides were detained and an FIR was subsequently registered. Both Azmi and Khan have been arrested, a senior police inspector from Shivajinagar police station confirmed. Khan has been booked for rioting and criminal intimidation.

Khan earlier took to social media platform X and alleged that the incident was an attempt to derail the election of the M East ward committee chairperson scheduled for later in the day. Party workers said that AIMIM had a clear majority in the ward committee and was poised to elect its chairperson from the Govandi ward for the first time. On Monday afternoon, AIMIM corporator Khairunnisa Akbar Hussain was elected as the chairperson.

Giyasuddin Shaikh, 70, a senior Samajwadi Party leader, said that Fahad Azmi had gone to raise the social media calumny issue with Ateeq Khan, but Khan was not present at the time. According to Shaikh, the police soon got wind of the visit and arrived at the spot, detaining Azmi. Following this, MIM workers, along with Ateeq Khan, allegedly rushed to Azmi’s office, where they ransacked the premises and pelted stones. Shaikh said the police immediately intervened and detained Ateeq Ahmed and eight others, who were later arrested. He claimed that among those who had gone to Ateeq Ahmed’s house earlier that morning, only Fahad Azmi was arrested.

One of the arrested individuals was a female party worker of AIMIM. In the FIR against Fahad Azmi, five people were unnamed. HT reached out to Saif Pathan and Waris Pathan, the Maharashtra general secretary and national spokesperson of AIMIM respectively. While Saif had no information about the incident, Waris did not answer HT’s calls.

HT also reached out to Abu Asim Azmi, Maharashtra president of SP and Meraj Siddique, state general secretary. Azmi did not answer the calls while Siddique said he was not aware of the incident.