Clashes in Jalgaon village sparked by road rage involving minister’s SUV

MUMBAI: While the rest of Maharashtra welcomed the new year with celebrations, a village in Jalgaon district was gripped by violence, which escalated from a minor incident involving a minister’s SUV to a clash between two communities. A mob torched around a dozen shops and set fire to five vehicles in Paldhi village, hometown of water supply and sanitation minister Gulabrao Patil. Police made several arrests and imposed curfew until Thursday morning.

Trouble broke out at around 8pm on New Year’s eve on Tuesday, when the SUV ferrying the minister’s wife and two daughters-in-law grazed the car of a local resident. The latter was enraged, triggering an argument with the driver of the minister’s SUV. It wasn’t long before the incident took on communal overtones, quickly spiraling into a clash between two communities.

A rampaging mob burned down a dozen shops and torched five cars parked in a garage. Some shops were also ransacked. Four squads of riot control police brought the situation under control. Paldhi is a communally sensitive village and no stranger to communal clashes. Taking no chances, police imposed a 24-hour curfew in the village.

According to a complaint filed by Javed Pinjari, 40, who runs a shoe store, a mob of 20-25 individuals set fire to his shop, destroying goods, furniture and property worth ₹54,78,000. Pawan Disale, police inspector with the Dharangaon police station, said, “As per the complaint filed by the shoe shop owner, a case has been registered against at least 20-25 individuals, of which seven were arrested,” he said.

“There was a road rage incident, and crowds from both sides gathered. This led to rioting and vandalism in the market area,” said Maheswar Reddy, superintendent of police, Jalgaon. He said seven people have been arrested. “We are analysing CCTV footage, and based on that further arrests will be made,” he said.

On New Year’s day, an uneasy calm prevailed in Paldhi, a small village with a population of around 15,000. “We have deployed four teams of riot control police, one platoon of SRPF (State Reserve Police Force) and an additional 40 police personnel from other police stations.

Paldhi falls under the Jalgaon rural assembly constituency, from where Gulabrao Patil was elected in the recent assembly elections. Patil is a three-time Shiv Sena MLA and was appointed as a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government for the second time.

Commenting on the clashes in Paldhi, Shiv Sena leader Bharat Gogawale said the minister’s SUV had accidentally grazed the other vehicle. “Things like this happen sometimes. We are trying to ascertain the facts and will help restore peace,” he said.

(With inputs from Shrinivas Deshpande)