RANCHI: The probe into communal violence that broke out in Lohardaga during the Ramnavami procession on April 10, 2022, has been handed over to a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Sub-Divisional Officer Arvind Kumar Lal said, "An SIT, headed by Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), will investigate the violence which took place during the Ramnavami procession on Sunday."
However, he refused to divulge further details in the matter.
Lal reportedly said that he has appealed to the people to not believe in rumours and indulge in violence.
He also said that there has been always been communal harmony in the Lohardaga, however, "there are sleeper cells that have emerged recently who are trying to disrupt the harmony of the place."
Preliminary investigations into the incidents have allegedly revealed a "pre-planned conspiracy provoked by the sleeper cells backed by terror outfits," sources claim.
Sources in the district administration claimed they had strong intelligence inputs about funding by terror outfits into the Lohardaga incidents in the name of a football tournament.
"The members of a sleeper cell even did 'recce' for creating communal tension in the main market area but following combing operations by the district administration they managed to escape," they claimed.
They also informed that since the miscreants could not succeed in carrying out an incident in the main market, they executed their plan in Hirhi village. According to officials, the array of incidents that took place on Sunday also indicated that there was some outside force behind the incident.
It should be noted that in the said violence, at least ten motorcycles, three carts, one tempo, four cycles, and several shops were set on fire, following which, people from the other side set ablaze two houses.
Notably, incidents of stone-pelting and arson were reported during the Ramnavami Procession in Hirahi village in Lohardaga at around 5.30 pm on Sunday claiming one life and leaving four others injured. The clashes broke out after a group started pelting stones at the crowd during the Ramnavami procession in the area. As both sides kept on attacking each other, tension escalated further, and more than a dozen motorcycles and a pickup van were set on fire following which, two houses were also set ablaze at Bhogta Garden Mela.
As many as 14 FIRs were registered and eight persons arrested so far in connection with the incident.
Meanwhile, internet services remain temporarily suspended for the last five days since Sunday midnight and the district administration, as a precautionary measure, has also imposed prohibitory orders in some parts of Lohardaga. Deployment of forces in the district, both in urban and rural areas, remains the same and the police could be seen flag marching on the streets of Lohardaga.