Three injured in clash during rally for Ram Mandir donation in Kutch

Gandhidham, Jan 18: Three persons have been injured in a clash between members of two communities in Gujarat's Kutch district during a rally for collection of funds for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, police said on Monday.

After the incident took place on Sunday evening, the body of a man was found about 200 metres from the clash site in Kidana village, and the police are trying to ascertain if he was killed as part of that violence, Kutch (East) Superintendent of Police Mayur Patil said.

Two groups clashed and started throwing stones at each other in the village on Sunday evening when a procession was being taken out for the collection of funds for the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, an official from Gandhidham (B-Division) police station said.

Some vehicles were also set afire by rioters, he said. The police lobbed teargas shells to bring the situation under control, he said. Three persons were injured in the incident and were admitted in a hospital, the official said.

A man was killed with sharp weapons after a group attacked an autorickshaw on the village outskirts, and the police are trying to ascertain if he was killed as part of the clash, Superintendent of Police Mayur Patil said. "We have lodged a case of murder after the man was killed by some unidentified persons on the village outskirts, some 200 metres away from the place where the clash broke out.

We are trying to find out who killed him and why," Patil said. The victim, hailing from Jharkhand, was returning from work in an auto-rickshaw when a group of unidentified persons carryinglathis (wooden sticks) attacked the vehicle, he said.

"While other passengers managed to escape, the victim died of knife injuries. How he received the injuries is yet to be ascertained," the SP said.