Assaults organisers when they refused to entertain anymore guests; normalcy was restored after other cops intervened.
The organisers of Enrique concert have alleged that a senior police officer, who allegedly used his position to allow his guests inside the concert without entry passes, physically assaulted members of the organising team when they stood up to him.
Grammy Award winning global pop icon Enrique Iglesias performed live in Pune on Wednesday evening at Amanora Park Town. The event was organised by OML (Only Much Louder), the agency that organises NH7 Weekender, Pune’s annual live music festival, which is scheduled to be held on November 2, 3 and 4 this year.
The concert had gold (Rs2,500), platinum (Rs8,000) and VIP sections. Audience could buy alcohol in gold and platinum sections, but drinks were free in the VIP section.
OML representatives alleged, “Things were going smooth at the concert last night, until a certain assistant commissioner of police (ACP) insisted on bringing in guests of his who did not have passes to enter the event. The ACP had been given substantial number of complimentary passes for his guests to be present in the platinum section much before the event. The organisers had already allowed a few dozen guests of this ACP into the platinum section without any passes or checks since the officer was not allowing anyone to even check them.”
The agency alleged, “When the ACP came with another group of his guests, he was asked how many more guests he had. At that time he was requested to go inside without any additional guests.
On hearing this, the ACP started hitting the organisers with his baton. While one of the members, Vijay Nair sustained injuries on his back and head, Manish Chandani sustained injuries all over his back and leg, another member Rajesh Balpande ruptured his left ear drum and also fractured his left hand in the assault. If not for the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) and other authorities who were present on the scene, the situation could have gone a lot worse. We are thankful to the DCP and the other senior authorities who managed to control their officer, who would have otherwise hurt a lot more people for no reason whatsoever.”
Girish Talwar of OML claimed that at around 2 am on Thursday, he went to the Hadapsar police station and submitted a written application about the whole incident.
Deputy commissioner of police (Zone IV), Manoj Patil, said, “The event organisers had met me, but we had communicated only verbally. I had asked them to give me a written complaint. I am yet to receive it. Necessary action will be taken, if and when the organisers file a written complaint.”
However, assistant commissioner of police, VT Pawar, who was on duty at the venue, said, “Though the organisers had informed us that some 7,000 people will attend the concert, more than 10,000 people turned up for the event. The security was lax despite the organisers engaging some 40 bouncers and 60 security guards to control the crowd. People were found smoking; when my staff tried checking the bags of the audience, one of the organisers objected to it and things snowballed. We even had to resort to lathicharge to control the crowd.”
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