The police on Monday resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the Shiv Sainiks who torched a truck and disrupted traffic on the Western Express Highway, to protest the hike in electricity charges by Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure, in suburban Santacruz in Mumbai.

 

Six Shiv Sainiks were arrested for arson and traffic disruption, Joint Police Commissioner (Law & Order) K L Prasad said, adding that the situation was now under control.

 

Police restored normalcy after 30 minutes of disruption and traffic resumed on the highway, he said.

 

Over 300

Sainiks, including senior leaders, staged a demonstration outside the Reliance Energy office at suburban Santacruz. The mob tried to remove the barricades and pelted stones at the police when a delegation of Shiv Saniks was holding talks with the Reliance officials, Prasad said.

 

"In order to control the situation, the police tried to disperse the crowd. When the situation went out of control, police lathi-charged the agitators," the officer said.

 

The agitated crowd burnt a truck on the highway, Prasad said, adding that the highway has been cleared and normalcy in road traffic restored.