Jabalpur, Feb 21 (PTI) Sihora in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district remained peaceful on Saturday after witnessing communal tensions for two days as some 500 police personnel, some equipped with anti-riot gear, were deployed in the town. As many as 60 persons have been arrested in connection with Thursday night’s incidents of stone-pelting and vandalism, said Inspector General of Police Pramod Verma.
Security has been beefed up in other sensitive areas of Jabalpur as well as neighbouring Katni and Seoni districts, he said.
Police also used drones for aerial surveillance in Sihora, located 40 km from the district headquarters.
Violence erupted on Thursday night near Azad Chowk in the town where a Durga temple and a mosque are located close to each other.
Trouble began when an `aarti’ was being performed at the temple and Ramzan prayers were underway at the mosque at the same time, sources said.
“The town remains peaceful. Things are fully under control. Sixty people have been arrested so far,” IG Verma told PTI, adding that police have registered five First Information Reports for rioting and defiling places of worship under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The 49 people arrested in the main case related to the vandalism at the temple were produced before a court which sent them in judicial custody on Friday, he said.
The remaining cases pertain to the defiling of a `Mazar’ (shrine), damage to a fruit vendor’s handcart, burning of tendu leaves stored at a Muslim woman’s house and damage to electricity meters, the IG said.
Dr Sanjeev Shrivastava, a local resident, said the markets reopened on Saturday and the town remained peaceful. PTI LAL KRK
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