The situation at Bopkhel Village near Pune continued to be tense but under control on Friday after clashes broke out between police and locals protesting against denial of an access road that passes through Defence land housing the College of Military Engineering (CME). A ban on assembly has been imposed in the affected area with heavy deployment of police after stone pelting and subsequent lathi-charge on about 1000 strong mob, Bhosari police, said on Friday.
Tear gas shells were also used to disperse the crowd. Police have arrested 174 people on charges of rioting. As many as 23 policemen were injured in stone pelting by the mob which tried to gatecrash the compound of CME. The villagers claim that denial of the access road to go towards Pune city was causing them immense difficulties as it meant taking a very long route stretching over 20 kms to meet daily commuting needs. The CME authorities have said that they had closed the road going through its premises on a Mumbai HC directive which took into account the concerns over security of the sensitive defence zone.