Maheshtala stay on edge after night of violence, locals blame outsiders for unrest near police stations

People in Maheshtala stayed awake the whole of Wednesday night as fear of vandalism and looting continued to grip this locality where Hindus and Muslims have always lived peacefully. The locals claim that the rampage of the previous day was the handiwork of outsiders who destroyed people's vehicles, pelted stones on houses and looted shops even as policemen and the residents were attacked. And what baffles them the most is that the violence erupted in Kolkata's Ward No-7 which is in close proximity to Nadial police station in South 24 Parganas and Rabindranagar Police Station.

Shah Alam Shah, who owns a readymade garment shop in Akra Fatak Fultala area, blamed the police for not taking action promptly. "The incident happened at a stone's throw from the police station but no one intervened for the first few hours. Hindus and Muslims have been living together in harmony. We never attack each other," Shah told ET.

Opposite Alam's house, lives Piyali Devi, who said, "I was born here and have been living here for the past 50 years. I have never seen an incident like this. We have Muslim neighbours and the locals were not engaged in the attack. We are very scared. Stones were pelted and the attack continued for hours."


According to the Diamond Harbour Police Superintendent Rahul Goswami, trouble started over building of a tulsi mancha where a woman from the minority community used to sell fruits. "There is an allegation by a group of a tulsi mancha," he said.

What followed was mayhem.

"I had a narrow escape. It all started when a mob of Muslims gathered and headed to the market. They vandalised my shop. The miscreants have broken the lock and destroyed everything. I have six family members and they are scared. There has been loss of over ₹50,000," Kuldeep Thakur, who runs a barber's shop, told ET. Thakur's shop was strewn with glasses, pieces of cosmetics bottles, scissors and broken chairs.

Gopal Basu and RajKamal Das, who work at a roadside eatery, said, "Our eatery was vandalised and we were beaten up. There were young boys in the mob who were around 12 to 15 years."