Kurla police arrested six hawkers for allegedly assaulting a 29-year-old man following a dispute over bicycle parking on Sunday.
The incident came to light after the video of the alleged incident went viral on social media.
A group of local residents gathered at the L ward office on Tuesday morning and protested demanding action against illegal hawkers in Kurla (west).
Following this, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) removed as many as 71 unauthorized stalls and evicted 100 illegal hawkers from the surrounding area. The raid was carried out by the local municipal district L.
Civic officials said these shops were set up in BMC ward L and 53 were located in Kurla and 18 of them in Vinoba Bhave Nagar.
Civic officials maintained that a notice was sent to the shop owners and they were given a period of 15 days to vacate the premises.
“As the hawkers did not comply with the notice, the demolition drive was carried out. We had deployed two JCB vans along with four mini vehicles to carry out the drive,” an official said.
According to police, the incident occurred on Sunday when Akash Singh, 29, had gone with his father in Bullet to a nearby hair salon to get his hair cut. One of the street vendors had parked his motorcycle in front of the hall, causing inconvenience to passersby. After Akash and the hawker argued over parking, a group of six or seven hawkers arrived and allegedly assaulted Akash.
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Two of them were allegedly seen hitting Akash with a belt.
The Kurla police have registered a case of attempt to murder against six hawkers based on the victim’s statement. The police have traced the accused based on the videos. They will be produced before the court on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mahendra Pandit said.