Tension prevailed at Bheemanabeedu village in the taluk, following a clash between members of two groups.
Police had to fire teargas shells in the air to bring the situation under control. A total of 34 people have been arrested over the incident.
It all started when Nagamallu, 25, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste abused Madhusudan, 18, who belongs to the Uppara caste, in an inebriated state after Wednesday evening’s immersion of the Ganesha idol displayed on Uppara street. Nagamallu also assaulted Madhusudan. A case had been registered against Nagamallu over an old dispute regarding a portrait of B R Ambedkar.
This resulted in members of the Uppara community throwing stones on houses belonging to people from the Scheduled Caste. Nagamallu soon informed the police over the phone about the incident. As police arrived at the village, the group began throwing stones at the police vans. Police sub-inspector M Nayak and six constables were injured in the incident.
Rangaswamy, one of the constables, has suffered fractures. Inspector Chennesh arrived at the spot and requisitioned two platoons of the District Armed Reserve and one platoon of the Karnataka State Reserve Police. He then ordered lathicharge on the rioters. As the situation could not be brought under control, the police had to fire teargas shells. All those arrested belong to the Uppara community. Cases have been registered against 350 people.
Prohibitory orders have been imposed under Section 144 of the CrPC. The situation is now under control. District Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajendra Prasad, DySP Muttuswamy Naidu and tahsildar Ranganath visited the village.
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