Unidentified people damaged windscreens of 36 cars parked at different places across the town early Wednesday, which the police suspected was done to create communal tension as the vehicles belonged to members of a particular community.
Following the incident, angry vehicle-owners blocked the main road at Kotwali area seeking action against the miscreants.
Mandsaur was the epicentre of a farmers’ protest earlier this month. Five farmers were killed in police firing during a demonstration demanding farm loan waivers..
“Unidentified persons broke the windscreens of 36 cars parked outside the houses around 2.30-3 am at different places in the town,” said Kotwali inspector Vinod Kushwaha.
He said the incident provoked the car owners who drove down to the Kotwali area with their damaged vehicles and blocked traffic for some time in noon.
Kushwaha said acting on a tip-off given by an auto driver that some people were damaging the cars, the police chased a motorbike, but the two riding it escaped.
He said police were going through the footage of CCTV cameras installed on the roads to identify the people.
{{/usCountry}}He said police were going through the footage of CCTV cameras installed on the roads to identify the people.
{{/usCountry}}“They targeted vehicles of a particular community, with an aim to create communal tension. The attack seems meticulously planned as it was carried out within 30 minutes,” said another police officer.
He said a similar incident had taken place last year, but refused to elaborate.
Some right-wing organisations organised a rally in the city on Wednesday evening demanding the arrest of the accused immediately. They allegedly forced all shops in areas such as Sarafa, Ghanta Ghar and the bus stand to shut down.
District superintendent of police Manoj Kumar Singh said he has appealed to people to maintain peace.