New Delhi: On May 26, a dramatic video went viral showing a policeman carrying a pig through a chaotic crowd in Mira Road, as dozens of people frantically tried to snatch the animal from his hands. Uniformed officers, an agitated mob, and television journalists with cameras jostling for position captured the frenzy.The clip was merely a glimpse of the deep-seated tensions that had been building ahead of Eid ul Adha, popularly known as Bakrid, inside Poonam Cluster 1, a residential complex in Mira Road on the outskirts of Mumbai.Location: Mira Road, MumbaiActivists from a Hindutva organization brought a pig into Poonam Cluster Society to protest goats kept there for Eid al-Adha. Note: these activists are primarily targeting and harassing the Muslim families living in the society. pic.twitter.com/tHmuIGYGWs— The Muslim (@TheMuslim786) May 26, 2026Poonam Cluster society, which has over 600 apartments and an almost equal number of Muslim and Hindu households, has been celebrating festivals of all faiths without any issues all along. This year too, Muslims members of the society, had built a pandal at a spot allotted by the society’s managing committee to keep the goats that had been purchased for ritual sacrifice on Eid. “This qurbani [sacrifice] was to take place outside, at a place allocated by the municipal corporation,” said one of the residents, who has actively been involved in averting the breakout of any communal tension in the society.Every year, around 10-12 days before Eid ul Adha, Muslim families in the society slowly start bringing in their goats for the festival. The space allotted inside the society is where they are kept tied and fed. “It is like a nice 10-day long fanfare,” another resident told The Wire.All this while, the residents The Wire spoke to said, the Hindu community in the society has not had a problem with any aspect of the festivities. But this year, three households, all belonging to the Brahmin community, raised objections. “The objection largely centred on the space allotted. They wanted the set up to be moved away. But since the managing committee had already allotted the space, we tried to convince them that once we are allotted a new space, we will move there,” a resident said. Most people that The Wire spoke to expressed apprehensions over being identified. They claimed that the atmosphere is so charged up right now that they fear retaliation from the Hindutva extremist groups and also the police.On May 22, a few officials from Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) visited the housing society. Since the shed was covered with tarpaulin, considered a fire hazard, the pandal committee was asked to get rid of it. By then the three families (out of 640 families) that had raised objections were already insisting that the pandal be moved outside the complex altogether.On May 25, the municipal corporation made another visit – this time, to ask that the bamboo structure be also removed. “Nothing of this was communicated to us through an official order,” one of the residents alleged. The bare bamboo framework was also removed.The residents allege that the families that were raising objections were also calmed by this time.But suddenly on May 26, a large mob gathered outside the society with a fully grown pig in tow. They began chanting the Hanuman Chalisa. According to the residents that The Wire spoke to, across religion, the miscreants “came from outside”. The residents allege that someone from the housing society had alerted a group of men, allegedly belonging to the Bajrang Dal and the Sakal Hindu Samaj, both self-styled Hindutva groups known for causing disruptions and communal disharmony in the state for the past few years. The Wire spoke to a senior police officer of the Mira Road Bhayander Virar Vasai Police who requested that neither his name nor his designation be made public.According to police, a day prior to the pig incident, local Bajrang Dal leader Pawan Thakur and several activists had arrived at the society and began disrupting the setup inside. A few hours later, another right-wing leader, Nagnath Kamble, joined the kerfuffle and the disruption soon went out of control. One of the right-wing activists claimed he was attacked with a knife, which the locals claim was only a ruse to get the Muslims in the society arrested. Since the incident, the Mira-Bhayander-Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police have deployed personnel in the area and also in other localities in the city with sizeable Muslim populations. The incident at Poonam Cluster had a ripple effect in other parts of the city too. Several housing societies, despite permission to shelter goats in the designated spots, have had to move them out.Mir Bhayander, over the past few years, has faced violent communal eruptions. BJP leaders like Nitesh Rane have openly visited the place and made provocative statements, all in the presence of police. Local residents have moved the Bombay High Court seeking intervention. That too didn’t yield any result.After the incident outside Poonam Cluster society, BJP leaders like Kirit Somaiya were among the first ones to visit the spot and demand a ban on animal sacrifice inside the housing society. The Muslim locals claim that Somaiya and other BJP leaders have intentionally been spreading false information. “The sacrifices are never carried out inside the housing society. It is merely a place to shelter the goats for a few days before Eid,” one of them told The Wire.