A court in Surat on Tuesday remanded to two-day police custody, 23 out of 27 persons arrested on charges of rioting and attempt to murder after staging a protest against the detention of six minors for pelting stones at a Lord Ganesh pandal in the city.
The protest was staged outside a police outpost in Surat and turned violent, causing injuries to some cops on Sunday.
The police produced the 27 accused in the court and submitted an application, seeking their 14-day remand to carry out investigation to find out whether rioting was part of a pre-planned conspiracy.
Judicial Magistrate First Class JP Prajapati, who heard the plea, remanded 23 accused to police custody for two days and sent four others to jail under judicial remand due to their prevailing health conditions.
All these accused were arrested on Monday evening on charges of attempt to murder, voluntarily causing hurt, unlawful assembly, rioting, destruction to property, and produced before the court on Tuesday evening.
In his application, inspector of Lalgate police station, KV Patel, said he needed to keep them in 14-day remand for interrogation and carry out thorough investigation into the incident to find out whether rioting was part of a pre-planned conspiracy.
An idol of Lord Ganesh was damaged after some minors allegedly threw stones at a pandal during the ongoing Ganpati festival in the south Gujarat city.
After half a dozen minors were detained in connection with the stone-pelting incident which took place in Saiyedpura locality on late Sunday night, a mob gathered at the Lalgate police station outpost to protest the action.
The mob comprising 200 to 300 people pelted stones, leaving two policemen with head injuries, while some other cops suffered minor wounds, according to the police.
The police told the court said they wanted to find out whether there was a mastermind behind the rioting who was trying to disturb communal peace in the city.
The accused needed to be kept in custody for two weeks for identity parade and questioning, inspector Patel said.
He contended the police wanted to find out how the mob got hold of such a large number of stones when there was no construction site in nearby areas, and whether they came to the police station armed with stones.
Three different FIRs were registered at the Lalgate police station in connection with the attacks on the Ganesh pandal and the police outpost.
