Overview

• A dispute during a July 9 cricket match in Bagrakot led to communal clashes marked by stone-pelting between two community groups.
• Mobs vandalized and torched police vehicles, private cars, shops and homes before officers moved in.
• Siliguri Metropolitan Police deployed baton charges and fired tear gas to disperse the rioters.
• Police have launched a formal investigation and are maintaining a heavy presence to deter further outbreaks of violence.
• Political leaders from the Trinamool Congress and the BJP have traded accusations over the unrest’s instigation.