TEAM HERALD
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CANACONA: Tension prevailed at Agonda after irate residents assaulted three persons and ransacked their restaurant, after they allegedly misbehaved with a woman and assaulted her brother, while celebrating Holi in the village on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident took place when some youth who were celebrating Holi in the village leading to Dhavalkhazan, targeted foreigners and others by throwing colour and water on them.
The group then entered a restaurant and threw colour on a few foreigners at the restaurant. Two youth reportedly entered the house behind the restaurant and targeted a girl.
The girl, who found herself drenched in colour and water, began to shout for help. She then reported the matter to her brother and he immediately proceeded to confront the accused at the restaurant being run by them, which is about 200 metres from his house. The owner, however, began to assault the girl’s brother for questioning him and his staff.
Other locals rushed to his rescue and assaulted the owner and two other youth. Faced with the irate mob, the owner then assured to bring the fourth person, who was absconding, to apologize to the girl. The mob then dispersed from the site, but when the fourth accused did not turn up to apologize to the girl till evening, a mob of about 200 people returned to the restaurant and began to assault the restaurant owner and the two youth involved in the incident, besides ransacking their restaurant. The three youth managed to flee from the site and hid in a neighbour’s house.
A police team led by PI Harischandra Madkaikar rushed to the spot and took custody of the three youth. The mob refused to allow the police team to leave the site and demanded the presence of the fourth person involved in the incident.
The police, however, managed to pacify the crowd and got them to disperse from the site. Later, both parties were summoned to the police station, as investigations were underway.
