A 16-year-old boy, who was part of the mob blocking a road during the Maharashtra bandh in Nanded city, was crushed to death while escaping police on Wednesday.
The incident occurred in Hadgaon area of Nanded in Marathwada region on Wednesday afternoon, when protesters were blocking a road, a police official said.
As police chased the demonstrators, the teenager, identified as Yogesh Jadhav, ran along with the others.
He, however, lost his balance and fell on road. He suffered serious injuries to his forehead and other parts of the body as he was trampled upon by fleeing protesters.A police official told PTI
"Jadhav was admitted in government hospital in Hadgaon, where he succumbed to his injuries," Hadgaon police station senior inspector Keshav Latpate told PTI.
Meanwhile, another official said that protesters have alleged that Jadhav died in a police lathi-charge. According to Hindustan Times, Jadhav’s family too have claimed that their son was seriously injured during a police lathi-charge to clear a road block near Ashti village. They alleged that the 16-year-old had succumbed to his injuries right then.
Jadhav's postmortem has not yet been performed and his family members are yet to claim his body, Latpate said.
Jadhav’s death was a result of the Maharashtra bandh that rocked Mumbai on Wednesday. While buses and autos were vandalised by protesters and swiped off the road for the majority of the day, schools and colleges were reported to have been closed, and dozens of commuters found themselves stranded on the roads due to non-availability of transport.
Police security was beefed up in areas around Chembur, Thane, Ghatkopar and Powai, as the protests carried on well into the afternoon, causing obstruction on the roads and railways, until it was finally called off by Dalit leader and BR Ambedkar’s grandson, Prakash Ambedkar, later on in the day.
(With inputs from PTI)
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