Ram Navami Violence: Authorities Use Bulldozers To Clear Illegal Encroachments In Gujarat's Khambhat

On March 10, confrontations erupted between two Khambhat groups when stones were thrown at a Ram Navami parade in Shakarpura.

Representational Image. (Source: Getty Images)

New Delhi: After communal violence shook Khambhat town in Gujarat's Anand district, the authorities brought in bulldozers on Friday to clear illegal infringements along a road in the town's Shakarpura neighbourhood, where a Ram Navami procession was attacked on April 10, news agency PTI reported.

Besides removing 'illegal' encroachments like as wooden cabins and some concrete buildings, the government was also cleaning shrubs from the property in Shakarpura since miscreants had used them to hide after hurling stones at the procession, according to District Collector M Y Daxini.

"Miscreants had used the bushes and thick vegetation to attack the procession. Hence, we have launched a drive from today to clear bushes and illegal structures built on government land alongside a road in Shakarpura. This drive will continue in the coming days till the entire area is cleared," Daxini was quoted by PTI in its report.

On March 10, confrontations erupted between two Khambhat groups when stones were thrown at a Ram Navami parade in Shakarpura.

Anand district superintendent of police Ajit Rajian previously stated that sectarian violence in Khambhat town was a "pre-planned scheme" orchestrated by a sleeper module to ensure the Muslim community's supremacy in the town.

The police have detained 11 people who are suspected of being engaged in the entire plan.

According to the authorities, the offenders planned to assault the parade and spread violence in order to teach members of the Hindu community a lesson not to participate in such a march in the future.

As planned, several of the accused, including Maulvi Ayyub Malek and Vasim Malek, purposefully provoked disagreements with procession organisers about music and asked them to turn it off before the procession arrived at Shakarpura.

While the police were attempting to resolve the situation, other criminals, as led by the main accused, began stone-pelting from behind, according to the SP.

On April 10, an elderly person was murdered and another was injured in the violence that erupted after the parade was attacked. On the same day, skirmishes erupted in Himmatnagar, Sabarkantha district.

(With PTI Inputs)