Communal Clashes in Telangana Town: Police Put BJP MP Under House Arrest, Detain 40 Others

New Delhi, 11 Mar 2021 [Fik/News Sources]: Telangana Police on Tuesday put under house arrest Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Nizamabad, Arvind Dharmapuri, after stopping him from visiting the communally affected town of Bhainsa. The police also filed 13 cases and took into custody around 40 people in connection with communal clashes.

Bhainsa, which falls in Nirmal district of Telangana, witnessed communal clashes on Sunday night after a fight between two individuals belonging to different communities.

Superintendent of Police, Nirmal District, Vishnu Warrier, told Clarion India that the situation is now peaceful but the police have filed 13 cases and taken into custody around 40 people based on evidence.

“We are taking people into custody and remanding them based on the evidence available with us right now in the form of visuals like videos and photos. That is a continuous exercise. Now, we have booked 13 cases and taken around 40 people into custody. We are remanding them also based on the evidence,” he said.

Around 600 forces have been deployed in the area. The police have been talking to community leaders from both side, he said.

According to the police, the riots broke out after a verbal fight between two people from different communities over a bike riding issue. Verbal fight snowballed into physical fight. Both started calling their people. Soon it spread to other areas as messages were sent through social media. This led to stone pelting leading to communal clashes.

Soon after the police came into action, dispersed the crowd and imposed Section 144. According to Warrier , the SP, the situation has been brought under control.

Twelve people sustained injuries in the clashes. All of them are out of danger. Six people have already been discharged. Properties, cars, shops and houses were vandalized, Warrier said.

Responding to reports that a mosque has been targeted, he said that this was not true. The incident happened near a mosque but it was not targeted, he said. According to an Urdu daily, stones were pelted at the mosque.

Dharmapuri, the BJP parliamentarian, blamed MIM for the incident. Warrier called it a ‘political statement’. “We go by evidence,” he said. However, he said that politicians from both sides are involved in the incident but refused to take their names.

Dharmapuri has been put under house arrest and several BJP leaders were detained when they were going to visit the area. Police also stopped BJP MP from Adilabad Soyam Bapu Rao from visiting Bhainsa. He was detained near Balkonda.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Home, G. Kishan Reddy demanded a high-level probe into the communal violence in Bhainsa town of Telangana.

Condemning the violence, he said since law and order is a state subject, the state government should order a high-level probe and punish the guilty.