CUTTACK: Seven persons were injured, two of them seriously, after a clash broke out between two groups of Madhaba village under Niali block here on Monday night.
The grievously injured - Kalim Mohammad (62) and his brother Halim Mohammad (43) - have been shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital.
Police sources said families of Deoband community and Bareli community were at loggerheads for the last three months over the issue of praying inside the local mosque.
Trouble started when the newly-instated maulavi of the mosque restrained some members of Deoband community from praying inside the shrine. This led to a heated exchange between the two groups which caused a flare-up. As tension mounted, one and a half sections of police force were deployed to avert further untoward incident.