Following the directive of Additional Secretary State Home Department NN Pandey, Kolhan commissioner Arun and Kolhan DIG RK Dhan convened a

meeting with East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Amitabh Kaushal and SSP Anoop T Mathew to probe communal clashes in Jamshedpur on July 20. 

Kolhan commissioner, Arun said that the State Government has asked them to probe some specific areas. The Government after going through their investigation report had asked them to furnish report on some more points.

“Though a report has been sent to the Government before, this would be a supplementary investigation report to the Government. The Government wants to focus on the role of police and the district administration in the communal violence on the night of July 20 and during the VHP-sponsored bandh on July 21. The Government wants to know whether administrative lapses led to the flare-up which spread from Mango to the entire city,” the commissioner said.

The two-member probe team comprising Kolhan commissioner and DIG was constituted by the State Chief Minister Raghubar Das on July 21 morning and asked to submit report on the communal violence. The commissioner and DIG gathered the details of the incident from July 21 till July 30 and had submitted report on August 1 to the Additional Home Secretary.

The Kolhan commissioner though refused to divulge the time frame for submitting the report, said that they would try to submit the report within a week. “The Government wants a report so that such communal violence can be prevented in future by taking concrete steps on the basis of the report,” said Arun.

Notably, the trouble took place between the two communities in Mango on the night of July 20 when three bike-borne youths shot in the air at Mango’s Gandhi Maidan  where a fair, part of Eid celebration, was on, allegedly tried to molest two girls near the Payal Cinema and then flashed firearms before residents of nearby Daiguttu locality. All educational institutions had also remained closed on July 22, 23 and 24 on the direction of the District Commissioner following communal tension after two communities clashed and subsequent imposition of prohibition orders in Jamshedpur.

However, there was no incident of eve-teasing but a group rivalry which resulted in communal clashes in Mango. Two groups of drug addicts from both communities got into a fight after the Eid celebrations near Gandhi Maidan led to flare-up, said SSP Anoop T Mathew. The two gangs headed by Asif Akhtar alias Sibu and

Md Waris clashed on July 19 at Bawangoda Chowk under Azadnagar police station and Sibu and his aide Jasim were injured.