Even as the police on Thursday arrested one person in connection with the communal violence that broke out here on January 6 following an altercation, the curfew, which was imposed following the violence and the ensuing police firing that claimed six lives, was extended.

Dhule Superintendent of Police Pradeep Deshpande said that Kishore Wagh, the owner of the Maratha Mutton shop — the eatery where the scuffle broke out — was arrested for inciting violence and causing damage to property and remanded in police custody till January 13.

Meanwhile, at the Macchi Bazaar chowk, where the eatery is located, people on both sides of the ‘border’ — as the intersection is known here — fear that peace will be difficult to come by in the town. According to the people of Dhule, who are not unknown to communal violence, the feeling of frustration, fear and loss that they witnessed in riots that paralysed the city in 2008 has returned.

“We don’t know whom to trust. We live right on the border with Hindu and Muslim families. Everything was fine between us, and suddenly this happened. We fled our house and ran to save our lives,” Gita Prajapati, a resident told The Hindu. Ms. Prajapati said her brother was badly hurt in the riot. “We don’t know who hit him. He has injuries on his face and hands.”

While more than 200 people, including policemen and members of the two communities were injured in the violence, six Muslim people died in the police firing, prompting Muslim leaders to allege that the police was prejudiced. As The Hindu reported earlier, houses of both Hindus and Muslims were gutted, and property was damaged. Members of the Muslim community have alleged that that the rioters indulged in arson and loot with the police support.

This prompted thirteen Muslim corporators on Thursday to threaten to resign if the government failed to institute a judicial inquiry into the incident. “We have demanded an independent judicial inquiry into the incident. The families of those who were killed also need to be given appropriate compensation. If the government fails to do so within a month, we will all resign,” said Feroze Lala of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The riot was sparked off by a brawl that started over the issue of paying a restaurant bill of Rs. 30. According to the police, two Muslim youths got into a fight with a Hindu restaurant owner over the issue. The owner hit the two, who went out and returned with a mob of over 50 people. The restaurant owner, too, had called people by then.

According to an eye witnesses who did not wish to be named, both the parties went to the Machhi Bazaar police chowk, but the police refused to register a complaint and asked them to resolve the matter by themselves. It was then that both sides started pelting stones at each other. The police arrived on the scene soon after, and was caught in the violence.

However, the account of what happened after this has contradictory versions. According to the police, the Hindus were largely quiet and the Muslim side of the mob was throwing huge stones and acid-filled glass bottles. PSI Bhaskarrao Pagar, who was at the scene when the incident happened, told The Hindu that policemen were getting injured in large numbers and it became difficult to control the mob. “That was the last option left with us at that time. If we had not taken the decision to start firing, the violence would have grown beyond limits. It is the best that we could do.”