An irate mob of villagers manhandled and beat up officials of the Mumbai Metropolitan Development Authority (MMRDA) who had gone to Kasheli and Kalher villages in Maharashtra's Thane district to demolish illegal buildings, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Thursday when at least 25 people, led by Devanand Thale, deputy chief of the Shiv Sena's Thane district rural unit, attacked officials who had come to the village in Bhiwandi taluka with bulldozers, an official said.