This Article is From Oct 29, 2019

Not A "Hindu-Muslim" Matter, Say Cops In Mumbai After Actor's Complaint

Vishwa Bhanu, who works for Excel Entertainment, on Facebook said that his neighbours asked him and his wife to remove diyas and rangoli from their gate.

Not A 'Hindu-Muslim' Matter, Say Cops In Mumbai After Actor's Complaint

Vishwa Bhanu works for the Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani-owned Excel Entertainment.

Mumbai:

An actor in Mumbai has claimed that he was not allowed to celebrate Diwali in the Muslim-dominated area where he lives, but the police today said the matter had no "Hindu-Muslim" angle to it.

Vishwa Bhanu, who is from Patna and works for the Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani-owned Excel Entertainment, on social media website Facebook said that his neighbours asked him and his wife to remove diyas (earthen lamps) and rangoli from their gate.

"I am living in a Muslim society in Mumbai Malad Malwani and like last year this year too people of the society start arguing with my wife on lighting up her house today. They were not allowing my wife to lighting up and making a rangoli on the gate outside the house. They destroyed the lights and the crowd forced me to remove the lights," he posted on Saturday.

The actor, who has worked in films like "Special 26", "Mardaani" and "Raghu Romeo", also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a similar post he uploaded on Twitter.

He also approached the Malavani police station in suburban Malad and lodged a complaint.

Jagdev Kalapad, senior inspector at the police station, said this was not a "Hindu-Muslim" matter and denied there was any communal angle to it.

"It was a case of a child in the locality getting a shock from some Diwali decoration lights put up by the Bhanus. The neighbours asked Bhanu's family to either put up the lights higher or apply a tape on the exposed part, following which an argument ensued between them," the official said.

The police later asked Mr Bhanu's Muslim neighbours to get a candle for his family as a sign of reconciliation. However, the Bhanu family refused and said that the matter has been resolved amicably, the police said.

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