Mandleshwar (Madhya Pradesh): Several people, including police officers, were injured after stones were pelted during a funeral procession due to an alleged dispute over the cremation ground in Sulgaon village of Mandleshwar on Monday morning.
According to reports, the incident occurred after Gangabai Patidar (90) died and her family members arrived at Vasudev Patida’s private property, located 200 meters from the Narmada riverbank, to perform the last rites.
The Patidar community maintained that the land was donated for cremations due to the poor condition of the road leading up to the main cremation ground.
However, members of the Kahar, Mankar and nearby communities allegedly objected to conducting cremations near residential areas. Sarpanch Phulki Bai Verma and villagers argued that smoke from the funeral pyres would disturb residents. What started as a disagreement quickly took a violent turn as both sides allegedly started pelting stones at each other.
The groups allegedly hurled stones from rooftops and streets, injuring a police officer and village watchman Shravan. Many injured people were rushed to Mandleshwar Community Health Centre for treatment.
SDOP Shweta Shukla reached the spot with heavy police reinforcements, including station in-charge Pankaj Tiwari, SI Ravindra Jamle and TI Rajendra Barman. The cremation was completed under tight security.
Police have registered cross-FIRs against 19 named individuals from both sides. The accused include Piru Pathan, Amjad Pathan, Vasudev Patidar and others.
Police are examining video footage to identify additional attackers. The village remains tense but calm.
