Chhattisgarh: Six more held for church vandalism, attack on cops in Narayanpur
Narayanpur (PTI): Six more persons have been arrested in connection with the alleged vandalism at a church and attack on policemen in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district early this week, taking the number of those taken into custody to 11, police said on Saturday.
The church, located on the premises of a private school, in Narayanpur city was targeted on Monday during a protest against alleged religious conversion in the tribal-dominated area.
The protesters also attacked Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Sadanand Kumar and five police personnel when they were trying to disperse the crowd.
"Six more persons were arrested on Friday in connection with the incident of riots in Narayanpur during a protest by people of a community," said Kumar, who sustained head injuries in the attack.
The person who attacked the IPS officer is among the six held, said officials.
Earlier, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Narayanpur district unit and four others were arrested for their alleged role in the violence, the SP said.
The police have registered four FIRs under Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to rioting, promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion and race, criminal conspiracy and defiling places of worship.
Adequate security personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order in the Narayanpur district, the police officer said, adding the situation was peaceful and normal.
On Monday, tribals gathered in Narayanpur, nearly 240 km from the state capital Raipur, to protest against a clash between two communities on Sunday over alleged religious conversion in Edka village in the district.
After the meeting, the crowd barged into a church and vandalised it, officials had said. The rioters also attacked a police team led by SP Kumar that arrived to control the situation.
The discord between the Christian and non-Christian communities in the district had been brewing for some time.
Last month, a large number of people belonging to the Christian community staged a protest in front of the Collector's office in Narayanpur alleging "atrocities" against them.
Protesters from at least 14 villages of the tribal-dominated district had claimed they were allegedly assaulted and evicted from their homes for following the Christian faith and sought action by the administration.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
