BHUBANESWAR: Commissionerate Police arrested 18 persons, including 12 minor boys, for ransacking roadside shops at Unit-II market here on Friday evening.
Over 30 makeshift shops were damaged in the violence.
Twin City Commissioner of Police Sudhanshu Sarangi on Saturday said about 30 persons were involved in the crime, 21 of whom have been identified.
The accused have been identified as Madhav Pradhan, Rabindra Nayak, Chandan Das, K Santosh Kumar, Priyaranjan Das and Biswanath Pradhan. Most of the youths involved in the incident are minors.
"The arrested persons are not members of any gang. The incident was a fallout of an argument between a brother-sister duo and a watch outlet's owner in Unit-II market on Thursday," Sarangi said, adding that the matter was then amicably sorted out at the police station.
However, one of them, Gopi, and his associate Chintu Mohanty earlier had an argument with the same shopkeeper.
When the accused received information that the shopkeeper had an argument with two customers, they attacked other roadside shops in the area on Friday evening.
Action will be initiated against them and the masterminds behind the violence, Sarangi said.
Police had intervened immediately and PCR vans reached the spot within five minutes. Two persons were nabbed from the spot and information about the involvement of other accused was collected from them, he added.
Bhubaneswar police registered a case in this connection after the incident.