Police arrested 10 persons following a group clash involving members of two communities that led to the disruption of the annual temple car festival at Sri Rathinagireeswarar temple at Ayyarmalai near here on Sunday night.
The car pulling ritual held as part of the annual Chitrai festival of the temple would last over two days and should have reached the base after circumambulating the Ayyarmalai rocky outcrop on Sunday.
But verbal exchanges erupted following an altercation between a group of persons from nearby Irumboothipatti village belonging to one community and another group from Perur village in Tiruchi district that came on a pilgrimage to the shrine.
And in the melee, some persons from Irumboothipatti suffered injuries and were admitted to the government hospital here and later referred to the Tiruchi GH .
Kulithalai police rushed to the scene and secured those from Perur and brought them to Kulithalai police station for interrogation. By then truck loads of people from Perur had arrived at Kulithalai police station triggering tension in the area.
Late on Sunday night, Karur Superintendent of Police Santhosh Kumar arrived here and investigated the matter before directing police officials to let off women and children who were waiting at the station along with the men.
He also instructed that those directly connected with the incident be prosecuted as per law. Based on the instructions, police arrested 10 persons in connection with the clash.