While the two groups were indulged in a fight during the day, a temple in Delhi, which was right across the street where the incident took place, was vandalised by a mob in the night
New Delhi: Tension prevailed on Monday (July 1) in Old Delhi's Chawri Bazaar area after a fight over parking a scooter took a communal turn. A temple was vandalised in the locality soon after. According to reports, security has been toghtened in the Lal Kuan locality to prevent any flare-up.
The trouble began on late Sunday (June 30) night when Aas Mohammad (20) was trying park his scooter outside a building. Sanjeev Gupta, a resident of the building, who runs an eatery stall there, objected to it, witnesses said.
Gupta's wife Babita said when her husband objected to parking the vehicle near the stall, Mohammad left, but returned promptly with more men who were "probably drunk" and beat him up.
Saqib, a 27-year-old software engineer and a local, narrated a different version and said, "It was Mohammad, who was beaten up. He and his other family members went to the police station and filed a case."
A video surfaced online, which purportedly shows a man being beaten up by a group of people, who are suspected to be drunk, over a parking issue.
Senior police officials stated that three separate cases have been registered. The police have registered a case based on the statement of the person who had come to park his bike, the other case based on the statement of the person, who did not let the other man park his bike and the third case against unknown persons for rioting and damaging public property.
"When Mohammad parked his scooter, Gupta asked him to move the vehicle somewhere else, claiming that he would otherwise set it on fire. After that, a quarrel erupted and Gupta, along with some other person, pulled Mohammad inside the building and beat him up," said Aqib Hassan (25), who lives in the locality.
Meanwhile, the locals called the police control room, and both Mohammad and Gupta were taken to the police station.
"When Mohammad and Gupta were at the police station, some unknown people gathered outside the temple and vandalised it. This led to tension in the area," Saqib claimed.
The temple is located on Durga Mandir Street, right across the lane where the incident occurred.
Anil Kumar Pandey, the priest of the temple, said, "A mob came to the temple last night at around 12 am. They vandalised the temple and left the place."
On Monday, signs of vandalism were seen as the shutter of the temple was damaged, and the idols were slightly defaced.
During the day, the two sides raised counter slogans that added to the tension. The police ramped up security to ensure law and order. The cops are patrolling the area even today as netizens have been debating the issue on social media.
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