Minor scuffle led to communal tension

NPnews24 Online: Old Delhi’s Hauz Qazi area remained tense, a day after communal tensions flared up here over a parking lot scuffle between two men that led to a temple being vandalized.

Tension simmered in Chawri Bazar area while different groups narrated different versions of the incident. It all started on Sunday night when Aas Mohammad, a 20-year-old, tried to park his scooter in front of a building and Sanjeev Gupta, a resident of the building raised an objection.

Sanjeev Gupta’s family said that her husband raised an objection and asked Mohammad to park his scooter somewhere else, he threatened him and returned with a group of men.

She said the group beat up her husband. Both the men were taken to the police station for questioning when the group reached the police station.

According to reports, this group then went and vandalised the nearby temple on Durga Mandir Street while the two men were inside the police station.

Saqib, a 27-year-old software engineer and a local narrated different version

Another youth name Aqib Hassan said, “When Mohammad parked his scooter, Gupta asked him to move it somewhere else or he will set it on fire. Thereafter, a quarrel broke out and Gupta, along with some other person, took Mohammad inside the building and beat him up.

Police has registered three separate cases in connection with the incident. A case has been registered based on Mohammad’s statement, the other case is based on the statement by Gupta and the third case was lodged against unknown persons for rioting and damaging public property.

The priest of the temple has said a mob came to the temple around midnight, damaged the temple and defaced some of the idols. The two sides raised slogans the next day that added to the tensions. Police have ramped up security to ensure law and order. Senior police officials and paramilitary personnel were at the spot.