Days after one person was killed and another injured in communal clashes during a Ram Navami procession in Khambhat town of Anand, police claimed on Wednesday that a group conspired to “ambush” the procession in order to ensure that “no such procession is carried out in future”. On April 10, a Shobha Yatra of around 5,000 persons was held on the occasion of Ram Navami from Ramji temple in Shakarpur village of Khambhat town in Anand. Around 500 metres from the temple, clashes started between communities with heavy stone-pelting, which resulted in the death of 57-year-old Kanhaiyya Lal Rana, according to police. The next day, police lodged an FIR against 61 accused under IPC sections 307 for attempt to murder, 337 and 338 for causing grievous hurt by rash act, 120b for criminal conspiracy and sections of rioting, for allegedly stone-pelting the procession. Nine persons out of 61 accused were also arrested. Police also lodged another FIR against four persons and other unidentified 1,000 persons who were part of the rally for attacking the other community, said the police. On Wednesday, Anand superintendent of police Ajit Rajiaan held a press conference in Khambhat claiming that the nine arrested allegedly attacked the procession as part of a “pre-planned conspiracy”. “Investigation and technical evidence collected by the police have revealed that it was a pre-planned conspiracy. The accused ambushed the procession and their motive was to ensure that such a yatra should not be taken out in the future.” “The main accused is Razzak Hussain alias Patel alias Maulvi who planned the conspiracy and assigned tasks. He worked as a sleeper cell module where one person was not aware of the involvement of another. Hussain had given the task of financing, assembling a mob, and planning the attack to various accused,” said Rajiaan. “They had done watertight planning as meetings were held at several places. The main accused had sent family members to other districts in order to create an alibi. The conspirators were planning an attack against the procession since the time it was disclosed to the village.,” said Rajiaan. “We have technical evidence of their chats on cellphones and call recordings. The accused were in contact in several persons from other districts and other countries as well. it is being investigated,” added Rajiaan. Meanwhile, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi attended a high-level meeting in Himmatnagar of Sabarkantha with Gujarat Director General of Police Ashish Bhatia and other senior officials of Sabarkantha to take stock of the law and order situation. Communal clashes had also broken out in Chhaparia and Vanzaravas areas of Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha on Ram Navami and the next night. Police arrested 40 accused and presented 11 of them to a local court in Himmatnagar on Tuesday where they were sent to three-day police remand. Police also paraded the 11 accused to the local court by tying them in ropes. Meanwhile, the Gujarat Congress attacked the state government over its alleged failure to stop the communal clashes in Himmatnagar and Khambhat. “Whenever the BJP is in a governance crisis, such incidents (communal clashes) occur. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Gujarat, police round up hundreds of Congress workers but they couldn't stop the communal clashes. We want to ask the state government where was their intelligence bureau. Does the IB only work to tap the phones of Congress leaders,” said Jagdish Thakor, president, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, at a press conference in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
