TURA: A day after an angry mob rampaged through Mahendraganj town, spurred by false reports about a man being shot dead, attacking the police station with stones and bricks before police opened blank fire to disperse them and impose curfew, the situation in the frontier town has been reported peaceful with no reports of any violence on Tuesday.
A curfew that was imposed by the South West district administration on Monday was relaxed for 10 hours till 8 am on Tuesday. However, the curfew has been re-imposed from 6 pm till 8 am on Wednesday to prevent vested interests from taking advantage of the volatile situation.
A mentally-challenged man with a machete, who snatched a rifle from a policeman who fell into flood waters, fled despite police reportedly firing in the air to stop him on Sunday night caused uproar in the town after rumours began circulating that he had been killed. A mob attacked the police station the next morning compelling police to resort to blank fire and impose curfew.
Section 144 CrPC is also still in force in the area and movement of people has been restricted particularly in the trouble-prone areas like Mahendraganj Bazar, Bagicha-Thana area junction, Tosildarpara junction, Malidaspara-Nayapara, New Modakpara, Ghegapara, Nandirchar, Paulpara, Babupara, Silkona junction, Modakpara-Kulupara junction, Babupara-Mondalpara junction and Kazipara-Mathergaon-Shantipur area.
A search for the missing weapon and the man who ran away with it has so far failed to yield any results for police. The district administration, on the other hand, is keeping a close watch and monitoring the entire situation. Meanwhile, relief measures for the flood-affected people of Mahendraganj area, which was temporarily disrupted due to violence, is being taken up in full swing.
It may be mentioned that vehicles of PHE distributing safe drinking water to the relief camps and vehicles of other relief workers were also attacked by the mobsters during the violence.