At least three persons, including a sub-Inspector were injured in stone pelting today following a clash between two groups over installation of the statue of Sardar Patel in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain city.

Police said the violence occurred after the members of Bhim Army pulled down a statue of Sardar Patel, which was installed by people belonging to the Patidar community late on Jan 24.

Sources told agencies that people from the Dalit and Patidar communities have been engaged in altercations over the installation of the statue for the last few days.

While one community wanted to install a statue of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar at the place, the other one wanted to put up a statue of Sardar Patel.

The issue was brought before the gram panchayat as both the communities have been staking claims on a portion of disputed land where Sardar Patel’s statue was installed, sources told agencies.

Tension escalated after one community installed a statue of Sardar Patel on the disputed land on Jan 24.

A furious group of another community gathered at the spot the next morning and brought down the statue, leading to a direct confrontation between the two factions, police said.

Violence escalated quickly, leading to stone-pelting and the use of lathis by both groups in which two people were hurt.

The clash resulted in several vehicles being damaged and one being set on fire.

Upon receiving information, a police team tried to control the situation, during which a sub-Inspector Lalchand Sharma sustained injuries.

Subsequently, additional police teams from some adjoining police stations were deployed and the situation was brought under control, ASP, Nitesh Bhargav said.

(Source: IANS)

- Edited for style

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