1 killed in clashes in Gujarat village

According to the police, the trouble began over a verbal altercation between two students with regard to the ongoing Class X board exams. Soon, it assumed a communal overtone and turned into a group clash, involving people from at least four villages. The police resorted to lathicharge and burst teargas shells to disperse the violent crowd, but failed to bring the situation under control. Picture courtesy Twitter

One youth was killed and many injured as two communities clashed in Vadavali village in Patan district of north Gujarat on Saturday evening. As many as 15 houses, farm equipment and standing crops  of a community in Vadavali were destroyed by a mob from four surrounding villages.

According to the police, the trouble began over a verbal altercation between two students with regard to the ongoing Class X board exams. Soon, it assumed a communal overtone and turned into a group clash, involving people from at least four villages. The police resorted to lathicharge and burst teargas shells to disperse the violent crowd, but failed to bring the situation under control.

They later opened fire, in which one youth died. More than a dozen people sustained injuries in the stone-pelting between the two groups. The state administration pressed three state reserve police units and police from five neighbouring districts to quell the trouble.