Ram Navami riots: 130 held in 3 states

KHARGONE/BARWANI: Bulldozers and JCB machines rumbled through curfew-hit

Khargone

and Sendhwa in Madhya Pradesh on Monday, demolishing more than 50 homes and shops of those accused of involvement in rioting on Ram Navami, while there was violence in Odisha's Joda town on Monday over a

Ram Navami

procession.

The number of arrests for violence on Ram Navami across three states totalled 130 - 84 in MP, 39 in Gujarat and seven in a Mumbai suburb. In MP, at least 27 people, including Khargone SP Siddhartha Chaudhary and five other police officers, had been injured in the violence on Sunday. Shot in the knee, the SP is recovering in hospital, while a 16-year-old boy injured in the rioting is on a ventilator.

In Odisha, meanwhile, there was tension in Joda town after clashes between two communities on Monday afternoon resulted in injuries to police personnel and civilians. The local administration imposed CrPC Section 144 in Joda. Sources said the violence began after a procession carrying a "Ram Jhanda" was not allowed to go from Joda town to Kailash Nagar through Azad Basti due to protests by locals. "The rioters of Khargone will not only be punished, but damages will also be recovered from them," CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted.

In Mankhurd, a suburb in eastern Mumbai, two people suffered minor injuries and 25 to 30 vehicles were vandalised after a minor flare-up between two communities near Mhada colony over a Ram Navami procession on Sunday.

In Gujarat, Khambat town remained tense on Monday, a day after it witnessed a communal clash during a Ram Navami procession in which one person was killed. At least 30 persons were also arrested on Monday in connection with violent clashes that broke out during a Ram Navmi procession in Himmatnagar town on Sunday.

In Jharkhand, a day after

Lohardaga

witnessed stone-pelting and arson during Ram Navami celebrations, the district administration clamped prohibitory orders.

With inputs from Odisha, Mumbai, Vadodara, Anand, Palanpur & Jharkhand