Reacting to the incident, MNS vice-president V. Saraswat claimed that this was a conspiracy to defame the party and it could be a case of mistaken identity of two persons bearing similar names.

'However, we are inquiring if they were indeed our party workers. If found to be true, we shall take strict action against them, there is no place for such persons in the MNS,' he told IANS.

MIDC, or Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, is a predominantly industrial locality in north-west Mumbai's Andheri suburb.

Several residential complexes have mushroomed there, especially after the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road -- a critical link between the eastern and western suburbs -- opened a couple of years ago.

A group of MNS workers gathered outside the police station and some blurred out the names of the suspects from a party hoarding nearby.

However, the workers did not create any obstacles in police work, Suryawanshi said.