Gujarat: Communal clash breaks out on Diwali night in Vadodara

Ahmedabad: A communal clash broke out in Gujarat’s Vadodara city past Diwali midnight on Tuesday over bursting of crackers. The city police swung into action and rounded up at least 20 people from both communities for pelting stones at each other. 

According to local police, the incidents happened in the communally-sensitive Panigate area in Vadodara around 12.45 am after a cracker hit a parked motorcycle which caught fire and reduced to ashes. 

Petrol bomb hurled after clash

Police said a petrol bomb was hurled at them from the third floor of a building after the clash. This sparked off a furious exchange of firecracker rocket bombs between both the sides. 

This snowballed into fierce stone-pelting between both the communities, forcing the police to detain many people in the connection.   

According to Vadodara DCP Yashpal Jaganiya, the incident occurred near the Muslim Medical Centre in Panigate. The DCP told reporters that besides stone-pelting, many vehicles were set on fire and several shops vandalised by unruly mobs. The police reached the spot and pacified the warring sides, he added. 

The police official said the CCTV footage of the area was being minutely scanned to identify those involved in the violence and ascertain the reason for the clashes.

Published on: Tuesday, October 25, 2022, 10:19 AM IST