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Seven men admit being part of mob in Moghul Durbar restaurant attack

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Seven men have admitted being involved in the terrifying ransacking of an Indian restaurant, which left several employees injured.

The violence erupted when a group of 40 to 50 people burst into Moghul Durbar, in Spinney Hills, Leicester, at 9pm on January 14.

After seven of the men pleaded guilty at Leicester Crown Court yesterday, the Mercury can now print further details of the attack, which were revealed at an earlier court hearing.

Prosecutor, Gordon Aspden, said during a hearing in February: "Customers, including women and children, fled in terror."

He said some of the group, wearing scarves and balaclavas, were armed with knives, nunchucks, poles, bricks and metal bars.

He said: "They stormed the restaurant through the front and rear." Employees in the curry house, in East Park Road, were attacked, including one who had boiling water and chilli sauce thrown over him.

Six people ended up in hospital, one with serious injuries.

"The restaurant was trashed and all the windows were broken," said Mr Aspden.

The mob had turned out due to a grievance towards at least one restaurant employee.

Mr Aspden said during the bail application hearing in February – which could not be reported then for legal reasons – that the customers who witnessed the incident were all afraid to make statements to the police.

A member of the public noted the registration number of a vehicle in which six of the defendants were travelling.

It was stopped heading north on the M1 and they were arrested.

In the vehicle were latex gloves and glass fragments.

In the boot was said to have been "racially inflammatory material".

Ceremonial knives were recovered, including one with a blood stain.

A seventh man, Kahan Khalsa, was arrested in a hired BMW.

He had earlier been in a convoy heading towards the restaurant.

The court heard in February that the defendants were of previous good character and their actions were not based on general religious hatred, but to "a specific incident".

Yesterday, all seven defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring together, and with unknown others, to commit violent disorder at Moghul Durbar.

Six of them, all from Derby, are: Surjit Pandher (28), a former prison warden, of Northfield; Gurmukh Singh Cheema (25), of Harrington Street; Ranjit Singh (21), of Harrington Street; Sundeep Singh Sangha (25), a gas heating engineer, of Wordsworth Avenue; Rajveer Singh Sangha (24), a college student, of Wordsworth Avenue; and Ranvir Singh (21), of Harrington Street.

The seventh defendant is Khalsa (26), of Rectory Gardens, Oldbury, Birmingham.

The case was adjourned until next month for the preparation of reports.

Judge Michael Pert QC remanded all seven men back into custody to await sentencing.

At the time of the incident, the Leicester Mercury reported that the police had obtained CCTV footage from a nearby business, showing about 40 men running from a side street and storming the restaurant, smashing windows.

Witnesses described seeing people running away with blood streaming from their faces and bodies, looking frightened. Some were crying.

Following yesterday's hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Chris Baker, who has led the investigation, said: "This has been an incredibly detailed and complex investigation which has had an impact on a lot of people.

"We still have a team of officers working hard to locate all of those involved.

"Although it has been over two months since it happened, it isn't too late to help us."

Four other men – aged, 23, 24, 73 and 31 – have also been arrested in connection with the incident and are on police bail pending further inquiries.

Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Seven men admit being part of mob in Moghul Durbar restaurant attack


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