The Noida police on Thursday arrested 13 people in connection with the violence that broke out at the Mahagun Moderne society in Sector 78 after a domestic worker employed in the housing complex went missing.
The accused have been charged with rioting, criminal assault and vandalism, the police have said. At least 30 others have been detained. The arrests were confirmed by Arun Kumar Singh, Noida superintendent of police.
All the arrested or detained live in slum clusters in and around Sector 78. Their houses were raided on Wednesday night, after which several men were rounded up for questioning in connection with the case.
Violence broke out on Wednesday morning at Mahagun Moderne after Zohra Bibi, 27, did not return home the previous night. A mob armed with sticks and stones vandalised the residential complex. The police took over three hours to control the mob.
Bibi worked at merchant navy officer Mitul Sethi’s house in the upmarket Noida housing society. The mob believed she had been held captive after the Sethis had accused her of stealing Rs 10,000.
She was, however, found in the building later on Wednesday. Bibi claimed she had stopped working at the Sethis 15 days ago, but was abused after she asked them for two months of pending pay.
“She admitted to have stolen Rs 10,000 over a period of time when Mrs Sethi told her that she could produce CCTV footage to prove that,” claimed Dharmendra Rathode, a resident of the complex, told Scroll.in. “However, she [Sethi] did not have any such footage with her.”
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