The Hindu : Front Page : Houses torched, curfew in Panchla area

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Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008
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Houses torched, curfew in Panchla area

Special Correspondent

Situation tense in West Bengal town after violence takes a communal turn

Kolkata: Curfew was clamped in the Panchla area of West Bengal’s Howrah district following sporadic clashes between residents belonging to two communities on Monday. Ten houses and several shops were set on fire in the violence.

The police baton charged the trouble-makers and burst teargas shells. Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed in the area.

The trouble started after an altercation over the realisation of mortgage money from a local jewellery shop on Sunday night, the district’s Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural), D.N. Goswami told The Hindu.

Violence broke out on Monday morning when two groups engaged in heavy brick-batting and the situation eventually took a communal turn.

The situation was tense but under control, Mr. Goswami added.

Biman Bose, chairman of the Left Front Committee, in a statement, held the Sangh Parivar responsible for instigating the communal violence and setting ablaze houses and shops in the area. Muslim fundamentalists retaliated, resulting in clashes between the two groups, he said.

It was the activists of the Sangh Parivar who had attacked the office of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in New Delhi on Sunday and ransacked the house of the party’s Karnataka State Secretary later the same night, Mr. Bose said in the statement.

A meeting of leaders of all political parties would be convened to ensure that peace returned to the Panchla area, the Left Front leader said.

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