Tension continued to grip the riot-hit Bhainsa town of Adilabad district a day after four persons were killed and 15 others were injured in communal clashes and police firing. As an indefinite curfew continued for the second day on Saturday, the entire town wore a deserted look with armed police patrolling the streets.
An uneasy calm prevailed, the last rites of the four victims were performed amid tight police security in the town. A cloth store, a bangle store and two medical stores and a hotel were among the 40 establishments attacked by the mob. Most of the shops looted or burnt were wooden kiosks of petty businessmen.
The Adilabad district bandh called by the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday passed off peacefully. All the shops and commercial establishments remained closed in Adilabad city and other major towns of the district including Nirmal. The BJP leaders and workers went around shouting slogans and forcing the closure of shops.
The riot in Bhainsa cast its shadow at other places in Adilabad district and Telangna region. As the news of violence in Bhainsa spread, the workers of Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad tried to take out a protest procession in Nirmal town on Friday evening but the police foiled the attempt.
Meanwhile miscreants attacked a mosque in Chowk area of the town and beat up the Imam Hafiz Mohammed Asif.
There were also incidents of stone pelting and two kiosks were also burnt. The organizing committee of the mosque summoned the police and handed over the keys of the mosque to the police to protect the place.
A similar incident was reported from Karimnagar town late on Friday night as the participant of Durga procession threw color at the Hafeez Mosque and pelted stone leaving three persons injured. The incident created tension all over the town and incidents of stone pelting were reported from different places.
Poornachandra Rao, the inspector general of police, who was camping in Bhainsa to supervise the arrangements said that no untoward incident was reported since last night. "Now our attention is focused arresting the miscreants who created the trouble yesterday during the Durga procession", he said.
During the night patrolling, the police caught a group of five persons armed with swords, iron rods and sticks. The auto in which they were traveling was also seized. The arrested persons were identified as the members of the Hindu Vahini.
Three injured, who were in critical condition were rushed to Hyderabad. One of them Majid Ahmad, who received bullet injury in police firing, was operated upon at the Deccan Hospital in Hyderabad and his condition was stated to stable.
The district collector Ahmad Nadeem, who was also in Bhainsa, said that the situation was slowly improving and steps were being taken to provide the essential commodities to the people in the curfew bound areas. "As a precaution we are not allowing any body to come out," he said.
Ahmad Nadeem however made it clear that the no body was killed in police firing and the four persons died in stabbing and other incidents of violence.
In Hyderabad the state home minister K Jana Reddy said that four platoons of the AP Special Police were rushed to Bhainsa."What happened in Bhainsa in condemnable and steps will be taken to bring the culprits to book," he said.
The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president and member of Lok Sabha Asaduddin Owaisi, and Bharatiya Janata Party floor leader in assembly G Kishan Reddy separately visited the riot hit town.
Owaisi, after talking to the victims and going around the violence hit areas alleged that the riot in Bhainsa was pre-planned and was part of the conspiracy of riots in Dhulia and Malegaon in neighboring Maharashtra.
Owaisi said that the activists of Hindu Vahini who had the support of local legislator Narayan Rao Patel were responsible for the violence and systematic targeting of the minority community's economy. "The shops owned by Muslims were selectively targeted by the mobs," he said.
He pointed out that there were only six constables, one sub inspector and one inspector to control the procession of hundreds of people when the riots broke out. "Police was not at all sufficient or prepared to deal with the situation though Bhainsa is known as a sensitive place", he said.
G Kishan Reddy on the other hand blamed the Muslims for the violence. "Some organizations deliberately created trouble during the Durga Mata procession," he said. The BJP legislator alleged that the Congress government had failed to maintain peace and law and order in the state.
Both Owaisi and Kishan Reddy demanded an exgratia of Rs five lakh to the kith and kin of those killed in the violence.