India, June 29 -- "Mumbai has become free of loudspeakers on religious structures," police commissioner Deven Bharti said on Saturday.

While not naming any community, the police claimed that meetings and negotiations helped them convince community and political leaders, and the trustees of religious bodies, to remove loudspeakers from more than 1,500 structures, making the city "loudspeaker-free".

They claimed the action was not aimed at any particular community and was in line with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's directive in March, saying that the guidelines of the centre and court must be strictly followed.

The police clarified, however, that religious structures can have loudspeakers installed "temporarily", during festivals, af...