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14 hurt, several houses set on fire after violence in Telangana town
Police said as many as 13 houses were gutted in arson by these agitated groups in the Korbagalli area of the town.
At least 10 people and four policemen were injured in stone-pelting between two groups in Bhainsa town of Telangana’s Nirmal district late on Sunday, officials said.
Police said as many as 13 houses were gutted in arson by these agitated groups in the Korbagalli area of the town.
“Besides, 24 two-wheelers were fully burnt, while an auto-rickshaw and a car were partially burnt in the violence,” Nirmal’s superintendent of police C Shashidhar Raju said in an official statement on Monday evening.
The police rushed to the scene and brought the situation quickly under control.
Senior officials, including a deputy superintendent of police, local inspector and two sub-inspectors also suffered injuries.
The violence began at around 10.30pm when a man was pulled up by some local people for creating a nuisance with his motorcycle rides in Korbagalli.
An hour later, he and scores of others from his community started attacking houses in the locality with stones and iron rods.
Some of them allegedly set two-wheelers parked in front of the houses on fire as well as a couple of houses.
In retaliation, the other group started pelting stones at the assaulters leading to tension in the town for quite some time.
On receiving information, the Nirmal Police immediately rushed to the spot to control the situation. Additional police forces were brought from Ramagundam, Siddipet, Jagitial, Siricilla and Adilabad districts to prevent further damage.
“The situation was brought under control by around 3am on Monday. The revenue officials have started door-to-door enumeration of damages,” the statement said.
On Monday morning, district collector M Prashanti, and Raju toured the affected areas of the town and spoke with the victims of last night’s violent incidents.
The collector assured them that the government would extend all possible assistance for the loss they suffered in the violence.
Inspectors general of North Telangana Zone and Karimnagar range also visited the area and are supervising the situation.
The police had imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in the town banning the gathering of four or more people to prevent further violence and it would be in force till January 15.
“We have registered cases of arson and violence in the Bhainsa police station. We are examining CCTV footage to identify the perpetrators of violence and we shall take them into custody for questioning,” Raju said.
Bhainsa, a communally sensitive town, witnessed large-scale violence in 2008.
