The violent riot at Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki India Limited on July 18, 2012 has been declared as a result of internal frustration between workers and management, as per the chargesheet filed by Special Investigation Team (SIT). Owing to this, the Haryana police have interviewed 300 witnesses and have framed charges against 145 individuals. However, the company’s spokesperson refused to comment on the statement.
Among the charges framed by the police, the major highlights were murder, destruction of property and attempt to murder. It must be noted that the final statement of SIT is in contrast to what the car maker declared at the time of lockout as according to company, “There were no pending issues with the workers.”
The Chairman of India’s largest passenger car maker, R C Bhargava had said that the mishap was an action of “extreme Left wing elements” and “it was a conspiracy which was kept within a small group of people.” He also described the incident as “class attack”.
The SIT formed by Haryana Government was working under the leadership of Ravinder Tomar, Assistant Commissioner of Police, with six senior inspectors. In order to resolve the issue, more than 140 workers were arrested by the police officials, including the leaders of Maruti Suzuki Workers Union.
The mishap occurred at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant, which claimed the life of a senior official and left over 100 wounded was followed by a lockout on July 21, lasting for a month. During the period of lockout, the auto maker’s total production suffered a massive loss of around Rs. 1,400 crore, which also impacted on its hold on the Indian auto market. Following the riot, Maruti Suzuki terminated around 500 workers from its pay roll, who were blamed to be a part of violence in the unit.
