Labourers vandalise BPCL refinery premises; 28 held

A group of labourers created ruckus at the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) refinery in Mahul-Chembur area here today, following which 28 of them were arrested on alleged charges of rioting, police said.
The incident took place this morning when an altercation broke out between a group of labourers and CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) jawans at a BPCL refinery, following which the former vandalised the premises, RCF police station inspector Dilip Raut said.
"The CISF jawans at the east gate of the refinery were checking papers of labourers. They found some labourers had not reported on time. When the jawans objected to it, few of the labourers got angry and picked up a tiff with the security personnel," the officer said.

Soon some of the labourers started pelting stones and vandalising the properties in which two CISF jawans sustained injuries, he said, adding that the 28 labourers will be produced before a court tomorrow.
Police said they are also likely to summon the owner of Offshore Infrastructure Ltd, the construction company which had hired the labourers.
The contractual workers had a similar scuffle with their employers in the past and had also recently stalled work at the BPCL refinery, Raut said.
Director of Offshore Infrastructure Ltd, Shailesh Sachdeva, was not available for comments despite repeated attempts to contact him.
A case has been registered in this regard under IPC section 147 (punishment for rioting), 143 (unlawful assembly), 145 (continuing in unlawful assembly), and 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty).