KHARGONE: Tension prevailed in Dhargaon village in Madhya Pradesh, around 60km from violence-hit Khargone district headquarters, on Wednesday night when villagers chased five people and pelted stones, suspecting them to be involved in riots that led to clampdown of curfew.
Police rescued the men from the house and handed them over to the Khargone police to ascertain if they were involved in violence that started in Khargone following stone pelting at a Ram Navami procession on April 10.
DIG Tilak Singh said the villagers suspected that the men, non-residents of the locality, seen moving out of a religious place, were involved in the Khargone riots. They chased them down to a house where they were staying.
The crowd grew and started pelting stones, prompting police to use mild force to disperse them, he said, adding the men were rescued.
“The men had definitely come from Khargone but their involvement in the riots has not been found so far. They had taken shelter at the relative's house with their families following violence in Khargone,” the DIG said.
Mandleshwar police station in-charge Jagdish Goyal said during the stone-pelting at the house, 4-5 people sustained minor injuries when they fell on a pile of iron bars kept in the vicinity.
A case was registered against many unknown people for pelting stones. The accused were being identified through video footage, he said.
“The incident took place because proper information of the outsiders wasn't provided to villagers or police,” he added.
So far, police have arrested 121 people in 35 cases related to arson and violence in connection to Khargone riots.
