Twelve including nine women and the president of a political party were arrested by Chembur police for injuring three policemen during an eviction drive in the area on Monday. Senior PI Dyanesh Devade and two APIs were injured when they went to evict Rashtriya Bhim Sena president R R Pandian from a bungalow illegally occupied by him in Collectors Colony.According to Chembur police, Pandian, who has a criminal record, hired 15-20 people including women to act as a shield against the police team. When the cops entered the premises, Pandian and his accomplices turned on an LPG cylinder, endangering the policemen’s lives. He later tried to consume pesticide as well.“We stopped him and snatched the bottle of pesticide from his hand. Some of it went into our eyes. Two APIs and I suffered side-effects after being exposed to the pesticide. Patil is the worst affected and he was first taken to civic hospitals before being shifted to a private one. We managed to take possession of the bungalow,” Devade said.The bungalow had been leased to Pandian by one Sunderlal Nirban in 2011, after which he repaired and renovated the bungalow and used it as his party office without informing the owner-.When Nirban objected, he was allegedly threatened by Pandian after which he approached Chembur police and registered a complaint.“The case went to the Rent Control Authority where Pandian lost the case. He approached higher courts before finally losing the case in the Supreme Court. The competent authority under the Maharashtra Rent Control Act asked for protection from Chembur police station to evict Pandian from the property and hand it over to my client,” said Nirban’s lawyer, Rakesh Agarwal.The accused have been booked under IPC section 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting), 151 (knowingly joining or continuing in assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse), 284 (negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substance), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc).