Attack on lensmen: Three more Tata guards arrested

Three security guards of Bombay House, the city-based headquarters of the Tata Group, were arrested on Monday for their alleged role in assaulting three photojournalists during a recent altercation with the company’s security guards.

The alleged altercation had taken place outside Bombay House on Friday. Several photojournalists had assembled there to cover the visit of ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry ahead of a board meeting of Indian Hotels Company Ltd, a Tata Group firm. The MRA police had registered an FIR against the security personnel concerned.

The police arrested the three security guards on Monday after they were identified by the photojournalists who had allegedly been assaulted on Friday. The three arrested guards are Shankar Ayyar (35), Ashok Bamne (41) and Manvir Prajapati (28). The trio was remanded to police custody.

The police had earlier, on Saturday, arrested two other guards, Mayuresh Gurav and Ganesh Shinde. The guards are employed by a private agency to ensure security at Bombay House.

Senior police inspector Sukhlal Varpe said, “We have arrested five security guards so far. The victims who were discharged from hospital on Monday identified these three accused, after which we arrested them.”

The police added, “There are two more security guards involved in the altercation, who we are yet to arrest. One of the arrested guards said that they started the fight after a camera being carried by a photojournalist injured a guard.”

The guards allegedly beat three photojournalists from the Times of India, Mid-Day and the Hindustan Times on Friday.