Nanded: FIR Against 400 Unidentified Persons For Attacking Policemen With Swords

Nanded, 30 March 2021: Violence broke out during the ‘Hola Mohalla’ program of the Sikh community on Monday as a mob broke out of the Gurudwara and attacked policemen and their vehicles with swords. Now, Wazirabad police have arrested 12 people and registered cases against about 400 unidentified persons.

A total of 14 policemen were injured and four of them have sustained grievous injuries. The rioters have vandalized seven vehicles, including the superintendent of police’s vehicle, for not allowing the attack to take place. Two bodyguards of the Superintendent of Police were injured in the riots. Thirty to forty mobile phones of the person who was filming the incident were also damaged. Also, all the barricades set up in the Gurudwara area by the police were dismantled.

Hola Mohalla also called Hola, is a three-day-long Sikh festival that normally falls in March and takes place on the second day of the lunar month of Chett, a day after the Hindu spring festival Holi but sometimes coincides with Holi. Hola Mohalla is an occasion for Sikhs to demonstrate their martial skills.

According to Nanded Range DIG Nisar Tamboli, there was a meeting with the Gurudwara management and they were informed that public procession cannot be allowed to Corona pandemic. “They had promised to hold the program within the premises of the Gurudwara. However, when the Nishan Sahib (flag) was brought to the gate around 4 pm, over 300 youths stormed out of the gate, broke the barricades and began attacking the policeman. The condition of four policemen is serious,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gurudwara Board Secretary Ravindra Singh Bungai condemned the incident. He also said that a joint meeting of the Gurudwara Board and the district administration was held regarding the program and it was promised that the program would be carried out peacefully.

Nanded MP Pratap Patil Chikhlikar protested against the incident and accused the Congress party and Guardian Minister Ashok Chavan of being behind the incident.

Nanded is an important Sikh pilgrimage centre as it is home to a sacred shrine, the Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Abchal Nagar Sahib. It was here that the 10th and last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), anointed the holy book Guru Granth Sahib as the eternal Guru of Sikhism and spent the last 14 months of his life.