Shopkeepers clash with local youth for vandalising shops

Shopkeepers ran riot after some youth allegedly damaged their shops at Kalikapur on Monday.

Some local youth damaged some shops on Sunday night. The shopkeepers who had no knowledge of the incident saw their shops were badly broken on Monday morning.

They doubted that some men backed by the local Councillor damaged their shops. On the basis of their doubt, a group of shopkeepers attacked the youth who were known to be the councillor's men in the locality. The youth were beaten up by the shopkeepers following which, they came back again with more people in their group and attacked the shopkeepers this time.

Kalikapur, beside Eastern Metropolitan Bypass became a battle ground as shopkeepers and the Councillors men started fighting with each other.

"Many innocent residents fled from the spot. Both the groups started pelting stones at each other. Many shops, which were intact till that time, were ransacked too," said a local resident. Police reached the spot after local residents informed the matter to the police station and the situation was under control after several hours.

In another incident, bus and auto-rickshaw drivers started fighting with each other at Asansol's Hoton Road crossing over several local issues on Monday morning. The drivers of the private buses and auto-rickshaws started to quarrel with each other. The argument turned to a face-to-face fight soon. Helpless in that situation, the passengers fled from the spot.

"There were at least 100 drivers both from bus and auto-rickshaw unions who started fighting. The passengers including women and children fled from the spot. Later, traffic police managed to control the situation," said an eyewitness of the incident.