Adilabad town was in the throes of some tension on Friday following damage to 16 cars in different localities apparently in the small hours by unknown miscreants.
As the incident came close on the heels of the May 7 Utnoor communal violence, citizens were apprehensive of violence in the district headquarter town.
Protest
The Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu Vahini, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal staged a protest in front of the bus station demanding arrest of those responsible for the act.
They accused youths from another community of damaging cars in order to spread a scare. The gravity of the situation became evident when the One Town police station began receiving complaints from victims living in Old Housing Board Colony, Shantinagar, Vinayak chowk and Dwarakanagar. Five cases were registered against unknown miscreants.
Police initiated measures to maintain peace by assuring the victims, who belonged to one particular community, that culprits will be identified soon.
Superintendent of Police M. Sreenivas visited all the places where the cars were damaged and camped in One Town Police Station for most part of the day in order to instil confidence among various sections of people in town. Karimnagar Range Deputy Inspector General of Police C. Ravi Verma also visited the spots and inquired about the incident from some of the victims.
The Deputy Inspector General of Police later chaired a peace committee meeting attended by members of two communities.
CCTV footage
"We have CCTV footage and will soon apprehend the culprits," he announced. He warned the two communities against breaking peace.
It may be recalled that the two communities had clashed at Utnoor less than a week ago over circulation of an offending audio clip.
The police is not ruling out a link to the car damage incident in Adilabad town.
Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad called for Adilabad town bandh on Saturday in protest against the incident.
The decision was taken after the organisation deliberated the issue with the local business community members.
