 "Police")
Twelve persons, including the district magistrate and superintendent of police, were injured in clashes between two groups over immersion of Goddess Durga idols in Gonda, police said Sunday.
The incident took place in Barav village in Katra Bazar area Saturday night when an argument broke out between the groups over taking the idols through a locality of the minority community for immersion, Superintendent of Police Lallan Singh said.
Senior officers reached the spot and tried to pacify the mob, but the unruly crowd blocked the Colonelganj-Hujurpur Road, he said.
The crowd later started throwing bricks wherein 12 persons, including the DM and SP, were injured, Singh said.
Villagers left a number of Durga idols on tractor trollies on the spot and fled. The idols were immersed Sunday morning.
Police are identifying those who tried to vitiate the atmosphere, the officer added.
