Arson attempt reported at Mandvi village

SURAT, Jan 19: Even as strife-torn Dangs completed one week without any attacks on religious places, an attempt to arson was reported from the Mandvi taluka of Surat district, which had reported only three cases ever since trouble erupted in South Gujarat on Christmas Day.

Sources said arsonists succeeded in torching a wall of a prayer hall in the Dhadwada village around 11 p.m. on Sunday. The police allegedly refused to register a complaint when the villagers went to the Mandvi Police Station on Monday. Instead, the police and government authorities reportedly went to the spot and discouraged villagers from filing a complaint.

Talking to Express Newsline, District Superintendent of Police B D Vaghela said there was no damage to the prayer hall and that only a couple of burnt rags were found outside the prayer hall.

Vaghela said t he incident might have been blown up to win police protection for the village8221;, he said, adding that police had since been posted outside the prayer hall.