KHARGONE (MP): Fresh arson erupted in Khargone on Tuesday despite curfew and heavy police presence. Some vehicles and a garage were torched on the outskirts of the city as violence continued for the third consecutive day after stone-pelting on a Ram Navami procession Sunday.
Indore IG Rakesh Gupta said 111 people have been arrested and 24 fresh cases registered against the rioters. Barwani collector Shivraj Singh Verma said NSA has been invoked against one of the accused.
State home minister Narottam Mishra said, "Be it terrorists caught in Bhopal and Ratlam or terrorists of Khargone, they are all sleeper cells of tukde-tukde gang and the state government will not let them sit in peace."
MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday reviewed the situation in riot-hit Khargone and ordered a tough crackdown.
"The rioters have been identified from videos. A large police force and an RAF company, led by four IPS officers and 15 DSPs, are deployed in Khargone," he said, ordering officials to ensure MP remains an "oasis of peace".
On Tuesday evening, a bakery on Bistan Road and a hotel in Khargone bus stand were demolished in the presence of commissioner Pawan Sharma and IG Rakesh Gupta for not following norms.
Despite the crackdown, arsonists set fire to two buses and a car parked in a garage in Mechanic Nagar area, Jaitapur police outpost in-charge Praveen Arya said. The fire brigade put out the blaze.
"We are yet to receive a formal complaint about the incident but we have registered a case under IPC Section 435 on the complaint of a bus owner from Barwani and started investigation on the basis of CCTV footage. Two other bus owners from Sendhwa and Palsud also lodged complaints over phone," Arya said.
Additional SP Neeraj Chaurasia told reporters that curfew is imposed in Khargone and action is being taken to control any movement of miscreants immediately. IG Gupta said the incidents are being probed meticulously.
In Sendhwa, which was relatively peaceful after rioting on Ram Navami, a godown was torched late on Monday. Barwani collector Shivraj Singh Verma told TOI they are looking for the rioters and their illegal constructions will be razed.
Ravi Joshi, Congress MLA from Khargone, alleged that "intelligence failure and mismanagement by police" resulted in the violence. Fifteen families have been rendered homeless due to arson, he said.
Khargone collector Anugrah P denied that any family has left home due to fear.
