In Pune’s Yavat village, a bakery owned by Swapnil Adinath Kadam was set on fire after rumours spread that it belonged to a Muslim. Swapnil says his bakery was wrongly targeted during violence that broke out in the area.
Three days earlier, tensions had been rising in Yavat after a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was allegedly desecrated. A controversial post then appeared on social media, reportedly made by a Muslim youth. This caused further unrest in the village. On Saturday afternoon, a protest rally was taken out, which soon turned violent. A crowd began moving towards a nearby mosque and spotted Kadam’s bakery on the way.
Swapnil Kadam told reporters, “Someone shouted that this bakery belongs to a Muslim. But the bakery is mine. Just because I have some Muslim workers who are from Uttar Pradesh, they assumed it was Muslim-owned. They started pelting stones, pulled off the metal roofing sheets, and threw something that caused a fire. Our entire bakery burned down.”
He clarified that his workers had nothing to do with the controversial post. “There’s no connection between the viral social media post and my employees. They were wrongly blamed. The bakery was targeted just based on assumptions,” he said.
Police are investigating the incident, while local residents and workers are still in shock over the destruction caused.
