Homes looted during Bhainsa clash

Adilabad: In the communally sensitive Bhainsa town, looting of gold ornaments and cash was done for the first time during the communal clashes on January 12 when youngsters pelted stones and wore masks to avoid being identified by the police.

Gold and cash were looted not from shops but from individual homes, which shows that the miscreants knew the social background of the families living in the colonies where the communal clashes took place.   

Hindu and Muslim victims of the robberies were shocked at being thus robbed by miscreants entering their homes. A resident of Porvagalli said she was robbed of `50,000 in cash, when she was away from her home and had gone to a relative’s house located in the adjacent colony for safety. She said though there had been communal clashes in the past, she had never faced such a bad situation and it was a nightmare for many. The miscreants had entered into houses, when usually they fight in the streets.

Police say that young boys pelted stones and wore masks and this was a new trend as far as communal clashes are concerned.

Where and how they managed to get such a huge quantity of stones overnight was a mystery.

A member of a family at Mullah Galli regretted that miscreants created panic among the community by ransacking their houses, and forcing the family to take shelter in the houses of their relatives in neighbouring colonies.

The miscreants also targeted an autorickshaw and van.

The owner of the van, which was entirely burnt down, said that he had three grandchildren who played with the children of his Hindu neighbours and they were friends.

The victim also said that he doubted that it was his neighbours in the colony who burnt his van and the miscreants must be from another colony.