Police officers in Maharashtra's Aurangabad were attacked by the locals on Monday while trying to disperse a large crowd gathered at a mosque.

The incident took place on Monday evening in Bidkin village of Aurangabad's Paithan taluka where a group of over 40 men had gathered at a mosque to offer namaz. Large gatherings at the religious or non-religious places are banned in wake of novel coronavirus outbreak.

But, when the police tried to break the gathering and vacate the premises of the mosque, a group of men and women attacked them.

Apart from the Centre and state government, the local authorities and religious leaders have also banned large gatherings due to Covid-19 outbreak.

The police and local administration had informed the mosques across the state about the prohibitory orders before the holy month of Ramzan started. Despite that, the group of people gathered at the mosque on Monday evening to offer prayers.

As police officials asked the group to disperse, a few people attacked the cops and started pelting stones on them. The group was also supported by women present in the area who also started attacking the police party. An officer and two other policemen were injured and they had to call for additional force to prevent further attacks on them.

As additional force arrived, the mob attacking the police party fled. The three policemen have been hospitalised while 15 accused involved in the attack were arrested in the night, 12 others were arrested this morning.

The police have launched a search for other accused involved while the 27 arrested accused have been booked for attack on policemen under several sections of the epidemic act. The three injured policemen are recuperating at a hospital in Paithan, Aurangabad.