Was manhandled by journos: Mayor

The tour of Andaman and Nicobar islands undertaken by corporators from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation — alleged to be wasteful public spending — has run into another controversy. The women corporators, including mayor Snehal Ambekar, have lodged a police complaint against media persons saying they tried to manhandle them Monday morning.

In a complaint registered at the Aberdeen police station in Port Blair, Shiv Sena corporator Trishna Vishwasrao, BJP corporator Ritu Tawde and Ms Ambekar have demanded action against TV journalists. “While coming out of a hotel, journalists asked us for a bite. However during the interaction, they manhandled and also touched us,” the three women stated in their complaint.

According to them, the journalists were stalking them ever since they reached Andaman. The corporators said the journalists shot their activities everywhere they went. The women stated they were shot even while they had food, which caused them mental harassment.

The tour to Andaman and Nicobar islands has been mired in controversy ever since it started. There were allegations that the corporators had gone on a trip on the pretext of a ‘study tour’. About `14 lakh have been spent on this tour.