Gujarat shunts police officials as riots in Khambhat continue

The Gujarat government on Tuesday shunted out a Superintendent of Police (SP) of the Anand district following communal violence in the Khambhat town of the district. Other police officials of the district have also been given marching orders even as rioting continues in this communally sensitive town in central Gujarat.

Since Sunday, more than 30 houses and as many shops and vehicles have been burnt down while members of two communities engaged in stone pelting and arson.

On Tuesday, the State government shunted District SP Makrand Chauhan and lower police officials, and posted Ajit Rajian as SP and Bharti Pandya as Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) in Khambhat.

ATS joins probe

Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) Shivanand Jha rushed to the violence-torn town to take stock of the situation. He directed the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to join the probe into the sustained incidents of communal riots in the town.

Khambhat witnessed communal violence last month, too, when members of two communities took to arson and stone pelting.

The police have, so far, lodged four First Information Reports, and 47 persons have been arrested.