Communal riots in Shahpur over kite fight

ahmedabad: a communal riot broke out in the vanmali vanka ni pol in shahpur on tuesday evening when two rival groups fought over flying of kites. the police fired at least two rounds and lobbed seven tear-gas shells to disperse the mob which had resorted to stone-throwing around 5 pm. according to police sources, the fight reportedly broke out over someone cutting another's kite, which angered the two groups paving the way to a communal situation.police inspectors k m patel and r m desai who were patrolling the site were not available for comment but the situation was reported to be normal by late tuesday evening, said sources. gamblers attempt to strangulate cop: a group of around seven persons including a woman tried to strangulate a police constable who was in the raiding team that had descended on a gambling den atop a terrace on the vasiwala municipal staff quarters on monday. the irate mob of around 200 persons who were annoyed with the arrest of the alleged gamblers, set the constable's, jitendrasinh gyansinh, motorbike on fire. the gaekwad haveli police raided the place at around 10.40 pm and arrested yasin mohammadsharif richhdiwala and ayubbhai yakubbhai bonawala. the police also seized rs 46,000 from them. the police escorted the accused to the vasant rajab police chowky where one hazrabibi hasanji mananawala and seven others followed by a mob gathered and tried to strangulate gyansinh. according to the police, the mob also beat up the person on telephone duty, constable vijaykumar shankarlal, and tore off his uniform. the jeep that came to gyansinh's rescue was also stoned. a total damage of rs 50,000 has been reported at the chowky. the people in the mob were booked for rioting and attempt to murder. telephone staffers buried alive: at least four labourers were buried alive while digging in the premises of the telephone exchange at vatva gidc on monday. one of them, phulabhai sonabhai vaghri, died on the spot when the mound of earth caved in. the others, ghanshyam maniram pasi, ramesh munnabhai kori and ramharakh ramlal kori, have been admitted to the lg hospital. a case of accidental death has been registered at the vatva gidc police station.