13 held after clashes over demolition of dargah in Gujarat’s Somnath district
Somnath (Gujarat): At least 13 people were detained after violent clashes erupted in Gujarat’s Somnath district, when residents of Veraval’s Prabhas Patan area allegedly tried to stop the demolition of a dargah on Monday.
According to officials, during a demolition drive, tensions escalated after a dispute broke out between local residents and staff from the Mamlatdar’s office. Around a hundred women and children gathered to protest, after the dargah's boundary wall was demolished.
Police said the crowd started throwing stones at officials. Security personnel used batons and fired three tear gas shells to disperse the mob and only after the crowd became calmed down, the demolition resumed.
Authorities have cleared the rubble from 11 demolished structures as of Tuesday morning. The demolition sites includes several residences and the sacred site, according to a Madhyamam report.
An FIR was registered at the Prabhas Patan police station based on a complaint by Deputy Mamlatdar Ranjeetsinh R. Kher, who stated that the drive initially targeted illegal encroachments on government land under survey number 831 without incident. The situation turned violent when the operation extended to the dargah. Around 70 to 100 people allegedly surrounded the officials and shouted slogans and pelted stones at the officials.
Cases have been filed under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for rioting, unlawful assembly, assault on public servants and endangering life, along with provisions of the Gujarat Police Act. While seventeen individuals have been identified, several other are not named.
Earlier, on September 28, 2024, local authorities had razed nine Muslim religious structures. These structures includes the 1,200-year-old Haji Mangrol Dargah, Shah Silar Dargah, and Garib Shah Dargah, along with a mosque, a 500-year-old graveyard, and 47 homes in the same locality.
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3 officials of private banks arrested in Gujarat in Rs 2,500 crore cyber fraud; 20 held so far
Rajkot (PTI): Three officials of leading private banks were arrested for their alleged involvement in a Rs 2,500-crore cyber fraud racket in Gujarat's Rajkot district, bringing the number of those held so far in the case to 20, police said on Monday.
Those arrested were identified as Maulik Kamani, a personal manager at Yes Bank in Padadhari; Kalpesh Dangariya, a manager at Axis Bank in Jamnagar; and Anurag Baldha, a personal banker with HDFC Bank, Rajkot (Rural) Superintendent of Police Vijay Gurjar said.
Dangariya and Baldha were previously employed with Yes Bank, he added.
Kamani allegedly assisted the earlier arrested accused in opening and managing suspicious accounts. He also helped bypass banking alerts triggered by high-value transactions by submitting additional documentation to keep accounts active, the SP said.
Kamani was allegedly involved in cash withdrawals that were later routed through hawala channels (illegal money transfer system), supported by digital evidence recovered from his mobile device, he added.
Dangariya is accused of facilitating the opening of fraudulent accounts using fake or misrepresented identities, police said.
He also assisted in structuring documentation, including Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-related papers, to prevent transactions from being flagged as suspicious, they said.
On the other hand, Baldha opened new accounts after verification and certification processes as part of the racket, Gurjar informed.
All the three accused are in police custody, while others are in jail under judicial remand, SP said.
So far, police have identified 85 bank accounts linked to the racket with 535 complaints filed on the cyber crime portal.
The total transaction linked to the cyber fraud exceeds Rs 2,500 crore, police said.
The earlier fraud amount was pegged by police at Rs 1,500 crore.
