Four street vendors including two women get prison term for attacking anti-encroachment team

Thane: The Belapur sessions court in the district has sentenced four street vendors including two women to two years' imprisonment for assaulting municipal officials during an anti-encroachment drive in Vashi in 2020.

Additional sessions judge K R Deshpande, in a ruling passed on March 20, held Sachinkumar Rampal Yadav (30), Ratnesh Suchit Gupta (40), Soni Suchit Gupta (33) and Deepa Ravindrasing Chauhan (44) guilty.

The incident took place on March 19, 2020, when a Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation team visited Sector 9 in Vashi to remove encroachments and unauthorized hawkers from the streets, said additional public prosecutor E B Dhamal.

The accused abused the civic employees, assaulted them and tore their clothes, he said.

Ward superintendent Hanumant Sutar and staff Anil Shinde, Gorakhnath Dhumal and Akash Kamble were injured.

While convicting them, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 each on them. Anil Shinde, Gorakhnath Dhumal and Akash Kamble should each receive a compensation of Rs 2,000, the judge directed.

The prosecution examined a total of nine witnesses.