Uneasy calm prevailed in the communally sensitive town of Bhainsa in Nirmal district on Monday, after the communal volence of the previous night. Sporadic incidents of stone pelting and one of arson, which was actually restricted to an area not more than 200 metres in radius, disturbed the peace during the day which had seemingly been restored by the presence of a large number of police force deployed since the wee hours.
Two groups belonging to different communities were involved in a bout of stone pelting, arson and rioting late on Sunday night. The town observed a bandh even as prohibitory orders were imposed and internet services withdrawn on Monday morning.
Violence took place in the narrow bylanes of Korbagalli and Bhoigalli which left 11 civilians injured. Also injured in the incident were Nirmal Superintendent of Police C. Shashidhar Raju, Bhainsa DSP Narsing Rao, Inspector Venugopal Rao and Mudhole SI Ashok among others, while controlling the violence.
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Property damaged
The damage to property in arson included burning of 12 houses, 24 motorcycles, of which 20 were burnt fully, one car, one auto and a pickup van burnt partially, according to Inspectors-General of Police Y. Nagi Reddy of North Zone region and P. Promod Kumar.
Apart from three companies of Rapid Action Force, some 400 policemen and officers including Ramagundam Commissioner of Police V. Satyanarayana and Siddipet Commissioner of Police Joel Davis, Adilabad SP Vishnu S. Warrier, Kamareddy SP Shwetha Reddy and Rajanna Sircilla SP Rahul Hegde were on duty to help bring back normalcy.
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Noisy skirmish
The incident in question had taken place around 11 p.m. on Sunday when locals of Korbagalli allegedly objected to a trio belonging to one community disturbing peace in the night as they zoomed past on their noisy motorbike repeatedly through the narrow bylane.
The youths came back with scores of members of their community and indulged in stone pelting, arson and rioting leaving the residents of that locality dazed and scared, according to an eyewitness, Dabulka Mohan of neighbouring Bhoigalli who had his two motorcycles burnt down by the attackers.
Police attacked
The police which tried to bring normalcy to the situation had stones pelted upon it resulting in injuries to many of them. While some suffered bleeding injuries many received minor ones which required first aid.
While all concerned including the residents of the area and the police spent a sleepless night, morning saw angry locals gather close to the property which was burnt.
Miscreants from the opponent side also gathered in the narrow bylanes and kept pelting stones on the policemen injuring a couple of constables and a home guard.
Hunt on for culprits
“We have formed teams to identify the culprits. They will soon be taken into custody,” the top police officials told The Hindu about measures being taken to restore confidence in local communities.
Meanwhile, almost all internet service providers suspended their services across old undivided Adilabad district. This was done on the request of authorities so as to restore normalcy at the earliest.