At 9.15 am on June 6, Azhar Pathan was at his vada pav restaurant in Dilli Naka neighbourhood in the city of Sangamner in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district. A handful of customers were having breakfast when a mob of around 100-150 people gathered outside the premises. According to Pathan, they began shouting slogans like “Jai Shri Ram” and “ya laandya naa maara”, beat those laandyas – a derogatory term for Muslims in Maharashtra.
Pathan, 34, was frightened. He said some people in the crowd then told him to close his establishment.
