1 held, cops scan footage - Forces to man Tata gate until violence accused arrested

BACK TO WORK: Tata Steel contract workers enter factory premises through L-Town Gate, the scene of Monday’s violence. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, June 29: Contract workers of Tata Steel stopped work today to protest against the detention of seven of their colleagues, but got back to work about half an hour later when senior police officers assured them that those not involved in yesterday’s violence and arson inside the factory premises would be let off.

With the steel city slowly coming to terms with the unprecedented mob fury at L-Town Gate in which at least six cars, including two police jeeps, were torched, police officials said they were still studying video footage of the carnage to identify the culprits.

City SP Jatin Narwal said that of the seven detained and interrogated at the Bistupur police station yesterday, six were released today as there was no evidence against them. The lone worker to have been kept back, Somai Sundi, has been arrested and sent to jail.

“We arrested one person today as we have adequate evidence to prove his role in the violence. We are trying to identify the others involved by scanning video footage. We will arrest all those who have taken part in the violence,” said Narwal.

Late last night, separate FIRs were lodged at Sakchi and Bistupur police stations. At Bistupur, a security officer of Tata Steel, Ramesh Singh, alleged that yesterday’s violence led to damages worth Rs 30 lakh including company property and vehicles — four cars and 11 two-wheelers — that were torched.

At Sakchi, assistant sub-inspector Ram Janam Paswan’s FIR was regarding the assault on fellow policemen and the two police jeeps that were torched by the mob.

Not taking any chances today, senior officials, including Dhalbhum sub-divisional officer Kartik Kumar Prabhat and SSP Naveen Kumar Singh ensured that teams of district police and Jharkhand Armed Police remained deployed at strategic locations around Tata Steel’s premises, especially L-Town Gate in Sakchi that bore the brunt of yesterday’s mob fury.

Singh, who visited the factory in the morning, later told The Telegraph that the situation inside Tisco Works was normal. “The forces will remain at the company gate until those involved in the violence were arrested in the next couple of days,” he said.

Company spokesman Prabhat Sharma claimed there was no disruption in the work at Blast Furnace-I. “There was no problem as such. The contract workers are doing their work as usual,” he said.