An argument over a Ganesh Chaturthi procession in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district turned fatal as three people lost their lives in the fight. The incident started when four men disrupted a procession by dancing, eventually snowballing into a major fight the next day.

How The Incident Started

A Ganesh Chaturthi procession, with DJ music, was in progress in Nandini village, Durg district, on Friday night. At around 8 pm, four youths, including the three who later died, came near the procession and began dancing. Suddenly, an argument ensued in a heated manner between the four youths and the members of the Old Shitla Ganesh Committee that was organizing the procession.

While the argument at first did not extend into violence due to elders in the village intervening, animosity continued to brew between the two groups.

Tensions Rise The Next Day

Saturday morning, at about 11:30 am, the two groups clashed once again. Again, the elders of the village intervened to prevent further escalation. Later that evening, the tensions took a deadly turn.

According to the police report, one of the men from the earlier argument, Vasu Yadav, phoned another person, Akash Patel, to meet him at the Shitla temple around 8 pm Saturday. Patel came only to find Dhanu Yadav assaulting him and attacking him with a knife. Patel’s friends soon joined in the fight. A violent clash ensued.

Casualties

In the following clash, Karan Yadav, Vasu Yadav, and Rajesh Yadav-all three of them who joined this procession-were killed. Akash Patel was seriously injured and was admitted to a hospital for his treatment. The police registered a case on this incident and took some action. Further investigation is going on by the police, based on which more actions are likely to happen.

Related Incident In Gujarat

In a related incident, tension arose in Surat, Gujarat after minors allegedly pelted stones at a Ganesh pandal in the early hours of Monday. The incident took place in the Sayedpura area of Surat following which locals came out in huge numbers and staged a dharna outside the police station demanding strict action.

Acting upon the information, police arrived at the spot and tried to handle the situation. The police had to resort to a lathi charge and even used tear gas to disperse the mob. The authorities are keeping a close watch on the situation in order to maintain law and order.

Arrests And Investigation

Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, confirmed that 27 people, including six minors, had been detained in regard to the stone-pelting incident. The police made the arrests after viewing CCTV footage and drone images to identify the suspects who had created the disturbance.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, he said, “Assured that strict action shall be taken against all those who are found involved in the act.”. He tweeted, “As promised we caught the stone-throwers before sunrise! 27 people have been arrested. Further investigation is being done based on CCTV, video and drone footage for identification of more suspects. We will take strict action against all. Our teams worked all night to identify and bring the stone-throwers to book. Jai Ganesh!!

The tragedy of the Chhattisgarh incident and the Gujarat one during the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations brings up a lot of question marks over the safety of the public gathering at the time of religious processions. The police continue their investigations, and arrests are expected to go up as police gear up for delivery of justice to the victims in order to maintain peace in the affected areas.