Cricketer Munaf Patel mobbed, fans invade pitch, cops cane-charge

Correspondent

NewsBits.in

BHOPAL: In a surprising incident, cricketer Munaf Patel's fans mobbed him when he reached Sheopur on Sunday.

Patel had come here to inaurugate a local cricket tournament but there was such commotion that local police had to use force to control the situation.

On the ground, there were broken chairs after the lathi-charge. However, Munaf gave the speech, also bowled a couple of balls. 

The cricketer addressed the gathering too. He thanked the crowd but spoke about the unruliness. 'Aap bohat pyaar karte hain lekin tariqa sudhariye’ (you love me a lot but improve your ways)’, he said.

Earlier, a large crowd gathered to see Patel but the situation took such a turn that it became tough for security personnel to control the situation.

The chairs were broken and the tent almost came down. Apart from Munaf Patel, Shahid Rafi, the son of Muhammad Rafi, had come for inuaguration of Hashmat Warsi memorial cricket tournament.

But people came in droves and everyone wanted to take 'selfie' with the pacer. People came on the pitch too. The crowd reached the guests' gallery as well. The police had to finally cane-charge in order to control the situation.

Some of the chairs were in fact broken to pieces. Even outside the hotel where the cricketer stayed, there was a large crowd of fans.

The police hadn't anticipated that there would be such crowd. Barely a dozen odd policemen including a sub-inspector had been given the task. There were no senior officials and prior arrangements. As a result, there was chaos during the programme.