Vadodara sees group clash again

The matter soon escalated into a major fight after hundreds of members from both sides started pelting stones at each other, injuring around five persons from both sides who were admitted to different private hospitals. Following police intervention, the deceased was buried. Police resorted to laathicharge to bring the situation under control.

“We had bought this land in 1980s to use as graveyard for our community. Everything was peaceful until a few months ago when the some members of another group started objecting to it and demanded that we give up around 4 acre of land behind the graveyard, which we refused,” a member of the group that had gone to bury the deceased, said.

The group claiming ownership of the land had objected to the cremation of at least two more bodies in the last two months, locals said.
Members alleged that the group that objected to burial belonged to history-sheeter Baba Khan. A house belonging to Khan’s relative was damaged along with a car and two motorcycles.

“Some seven persons were digging grave for the deceased, 62-year-old Rukeshabanu Khan when a group arrived there and started objecting to it, as they said that were not not giving up on land belonging to us. The members of the group were then alerted who came in large number to counter them. Both sides then started pelting stones at each other,” said Mussarbhai Pathan, who was present at the spot during the clash.

“We took around 50 police men to the spot to prevent the clash and used laathicharge after the two members started pelting stones. We are in the process of filing an FIR and will make arrests after that,” said RN Patel, police inspector, Gorwa.