Two persons died and one is in a critical condition in communal clashes that broke out in Bharuch district on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident took place in Ambeta village in Hansot town of Bharuch on a day when Gujarat was celebrating the Makar Sankranti festival.
According to the police, a fight between youths from two communities flared up into a communal situation as mobs of 250-500 people from two communities clashed in various locations of Hansot. They threw stones and damaged shops and religious places. The two deceased persons were killed with a sword. The police had to open firing to control the rioting mobs.
“The fight itself was not on a religious issue. A youth from one community was passing through an area with residential concentration of another community. He was heckled by another youth and was beaten up. Following this incidents, communities rallied themselves,” the police told The Hindu .
For a month, communal tension was brewing in Hansot after a message decrying a particular religion was being circulated on WhatsApp.
The police are in the process of registering an FIR.
