Days after he tackled communal tensions in Ratlam, Superintendent of Police transferred

Lodha, when contacted by The Indian Express, said that he “read this as a routine transfer”.

Right-wing outfits in Ratlam had been demanding action against Lodha, and had written letters to the district collector in this regard. Ratlam district BJP president Pradeep Upadhyay told The Indian Express, “We had protested against the SP since he conducted a biased investigation against Hindu organisation leaders. Our main issue was that SP Lodha had claimed that Hindu groups resorted to stone pelting and that was the main cause of communal tension and riot-like situation in Ratlam.”

On September 8, Madhya Pradesh police had deployed heavy security after communal tensions simmered when a mob resorted to stone pelting, angered by rumours that a procession carrying an idol of Lord Ganesh had been pelted with stones.

The incident took place in the Mochipura area on Saturday night, when some people were carrying the deity’s idol for installation as part of the 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi. Lodha had said that police initially got a complaint that someone was injured when a stone was allegedly thrown near the pandal, and an FIR was registered against unknown persons.

However, nearly 500 persons gheraoed the police station on Saturday night, demanding action against the unidentified person who allegedly threw a stone at the Ganesh procession. When the police team began investigating the case, someone threw a stone again, and stone pelting ensued, in which a police vehicle’s glass broke. Police were forced to use canes to disperse the crowd from the spot.

On the rumours that stones were thrown at the pandal, the SP had said, “There was no idol that was destroyed in this incident. We will also look into allegations that people were injured in stone pelting and are looking into CCTV footage to ascertain the same. People should not react looking at any social media post.”

However, Upadhayay claimed, “The law and order situation escalated after the police failed to register an FIR quickly. We had no issue with the lathi charge. But later in the night, the police picked up Hindu organisation leaders, including the head of a Bal Vibhag, and brutally assaulted them in police custody.”

Senior police officers denied this. “Another FIR was registered against 13 named people and around 500 unknown persons. Some of them were detained for questioning,” said a senior police officer.