15 persons injured in a riot

15 persons injured in a riot
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NASHIK, SEPT 15: Fifteen persons were injured in a riot which broke out in Lakhmapur village in Baglan tehsil on Thursday night. The police have arrested 16 persons.

The riot broke out at around 9 pm, when a mob of about 100 persons, armed with iron-rods and sticks, attacked a resident of the local `Rajwada' (Dalit settlement). Fifteen persons, including four attackers, were injured in the riot.

According to the police, a resident of the Rajwada, Ambadas Baburao Panpatil, owed Rs 100 to a cloth merchant, Sanjay Suryavanshi. Around 8 pm, Suryavanshi had visited Ambadas and asked him to clear the dues. Ambadas had agreed to pay the amount next month and Suryavanshi had returned to his shop.

Later, Suryavanshi narrated the incident to others and about 100 persons marched to the Rajwada and attacked the residents. Ambadas, his wife Ashabai, and nine others were injured in the attack. One of the residents, Kashinath Vedu Bagul, was seriously injured in the incident and had to be shifted to the civil hospital in Nashik.

Four attackers were also injured when the dalits retaliated and two of them, Prashant Purushottam Bachhav and Mahendra Damodar Dalvi, were rushed to the Wadia hospital in Malegaon. District superintendent of police Bhagwant More, who rushed to the spot, said that the situation was under control.