Surat: A group of Muslims in Surat broke hand of Ganesh murti late in the night in Begampura Mumbaivad area.

A Tajiya procession of Muslims was passing through Mumbaivad area of Begampura chanting ‘Ya Hussain Allah’ slogans.At the same place, a Hindu procession for Ganesh murti visarjan was passing through chanting slogans of ‘Ganpati bappa morya’.

Angry with this, a group of Muslims in Tajiya procession went to Sarvajanik Ganesh pandal and broke down a hand of Ganesh murti.

The incident took place at 1.30 am, following which Salabatpura police rushed to the place and managed a group of Muslims including main accused Imran alias Salman to issue apology. Later broken murti of Ganesh was immersed. Police also took away DVR of CCTV camera and removed video of clash from local youth’s mobile phone in order to prevent communal tension.

Later in the afternoon around 200 persons from Hindu organizations joined by locals gathered at police station and staged protest demanding complaint against Muslims who broke murti. The locals and Hindu organizations threatened to stall murti visarjan completely in Begampura area if those guilty of breaking murti were not booked.

The Muslims involved were from Salabatpura Momanvad area. They were identified as Imran alias Salman, Muhammad Yasin Sethwala, Aslam Jiva Sethwala, Faruk Rajbara and Yusuf Jiva Sethwala among others. Police has booked them. Police Inspector VJ Chaudhary is investigating the case.

DeshGujarat