Clashes in Ahmedabad

For the second day on Sunday, the sensitive Nagoriwad locality in Ahmedabad’s walled city area of Shahpur witnessed communal clashes, leaving several houses damaged and over a dozen persons injured.

Local residents said the trouble began about a week ago when some people tried to build a temple near the Ahmedi Masjid opposite the Nagoriwad police chowky, and were stopped from doing so following objections. On Saturday, tension resurfaced when a Janmashtami procession was taken out from near the mosque, though this was apparently not the regular route.

Another version is that the mosque authorities objected to the noisy procession, as evening namaaz was being offered at the time.

Clashes soon erupted, with both sides pelting stones at each other. While police managed to restore calm by night, trouble began again on Sunday afternoon allegedly at the provocation of local political workers. Nearly half a dozen houses were torched and property damaged on both sides in the clashes, with many injured. Among the injured were Inspector K S Sawani of Karanj Police Station and some constables and a sub-inspector of Shahpur Police Station.

The police have registered complaints against members of both the communities for rioting and booked Dimple Dataniya of Chamundanagar and Allahrakah Nagori of Nagoriwad.