Rumours keep Vadodara burning

Three injured, two vehicles set on fire, police lob teargas shells to contain riot.

Many shops are shut anticipating clashes, in Vadodara on Friday. (Source: Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

Vadodara witnessed another communal clash on Friday, a day after angry mobs set on fire around a dozen two-wheelers and damaged properties in shops in the walled city area. The clashes that erupted during the afternoon went on till late evening in different pockets in areas near Yakutpura, not far from areas that witnessed clashes a day ago.

Three persons received injuries and two two-wheelers were set on fire in three different localities. Police said that a person received injuries on his head during stone-pelting at Mandvi and was referred to nearby hospital for treatment. Two more persons were attacked by unidentified persons near Champaner gate and Dabhi Falia, police added, taking the number of injured persons to three. Two two-wheelers were set on fire, one each in Yakutpura and Panigate localities.

Police said they had to lob around a dozen teargas shells.

“The situation has been brought under control. We will soon start combing operation and hope to make arrests during night. So far, one person has been injured and two vehicles set on fire in stone-pelting and clashes that were reported from Yakutpura and surrounding areas,” ACP (C-Division) AF Sindhi said. Several rumours were doing the rounds throughout the day, including reports that two persons from a particular community were stabbed, which Sindhi said was all rubbish.

Around a dozen two-wheelers were set on fire on Thursday and some shops looted after members of two communities clashed. Friday’s clashes were reported from areas in old city’s Yakutpura locality around 2 pm where people similarly resorted to stone-pelting, soon after Muslims emerged from their Friday prayers. Clashes were reported from areas such as Yakutpura, Adaniyapul, Churi wali khacha, Powa wali gali, and Kalupura naka, not far from places in Fatehpura, Hathikhana and Kumbharwada that saw clashes on Thursday.

These localities have a several segregated pockets of Hindu and Muslim residents and are communally tense.

Police had attributed the Thursday clashes to a photoshopped image of a Hindu goddess morphed with the image of Islamic sacred house, which was then circulated on social media network. The person who allegedly circulated the image, Sunil Rajput had already been arrested on Thursday.

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Angry mob resorted to pelting stones and even set a two-wheeler on fire in Adaniyapul locality. Soon, nearby areas witnessed simultaneous clashes. Police said that the situation was brought under control an hour and half, and said no casualty was so far reported. Anticipating similar clashes Friday, shopkeepers in the locality had decided to keep their shops shut and the areas already wore a deserted look since morning.

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