He missed sister's shaadi only to die in lathicharge

Birthday boy Viral Dholakiya suffered heart attack during lathicharge while protesting water cut

Birthday boy Viral Dholakiya suffered heart attack during lathicharge while protesting water cut

Viral Dholakiya (43) missed his sister's wedding to attend yesterday's protest outside the BMC headquarters about the water crisis in the city.

But now he won't to able to wish his cousin or ever see any of his family members after he suffered a heart attack during the police lathicharge on the protesters.

Dholakiya's parents were in Gujarat for the wedding yesterday, but he refused to go with them and stayed back with his wife and a child just to attend the morcha.
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He was to leave for Gujarat after the protest.



According to his neighbours in Riddhi Siddhi building at Kandivli, Dholakiya was an active member of the Nitesh Rane's Swabhimaan organisation.

To add to the tragedy, it was also Dholakiya's birthday yesterday. His relatives, who were present to claim his body at Bombay Hospital, looked shattered.

"It was his bad luck that of all the protestors he was the one who suffered the most," said one of his close relatives.

More than 5,000 protesters of Swabhimaan had assembled outside the BMC headquarters to protest the water crisis in the city.

Things turned ugly when the police lathicharged them. More than 15 protesters were injured and they were later hospitalised.

According to Senior Inspector Bhaurao Bhawle, "We had to take stringent action against the unruly mob, as it was difficult to control them.

We have arrested 13 members from Swabhimaan. They are all out on bail."

But Bawle does not believe they were responsible for Dholakiya's death. "He did not die because of our lathicharge. He died in hospital of a severe heart attack," he said.

Inhuman

The protestors, obviously, had a different say on the police brutality. "We were just protesting for water, which is our basic right.
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We had not expected such kind of treatment from the police," said Vinay Yadhav, Nitesh Rane's personal secretary, who fractured his hand in the lathicharge.

Added Ram Kadam (50), who sustained minor injuries, "The police did not spare anyone."

Did you know?
The BMC has imposed a 15 per cent water cut in residential areas and 30 per cent cut on commercial enterprises.

Inputs by Ketan Ranga

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