Vadodara, October 17: Seven people, including a civil engineer, who hail from Bihar, were attacked by three men in Vadodara for wearing lungi. One of the three accused has been arrested, and the Gujarat police ruled out the hate crime angle in the case. The attack took place late on Monday night.

Civil engineer Shatrughan Yadav and the six plumbers from Madhubani district in Bihar are working at a construction site of a primary school under Vadodara Municipal Corporation. On Monday evening, three men objected to their attire when they were sitting outside the under-construction building. Gujarat Authorities Reach out to Migrant Workers to Stop Exodus.

Yadav and others were wearing lungi. The verbal argument took turned into a brawl in which the seven migrants received minor injuries. The attackers threatened them to leave Gujarat before fleeing from the spot. Meanwhile, Yadav called the police control room, and a PCR van arrived for their help. Migrant Worker From Bihar Lynched by Mob in Gujarat's Surat.

Yadav and others then went to Sama police station to lodge a case. When they returned, Yadav’s bike and two chairs were set on fire by the attackers, who also threatened other migrant workers. Sensing the seriousness of the situation, the contractor living in Surat also rushed to the city.

“It is difficult to say what could be the reason for the attack. They told the engineer and the workers that they have a problem because they were lungi, which is very strange,” contractor Mayur Patel told TOI. “The workers were asked to keep their mouth shut and leave from the site or else they would also be set on fire just like the bike," he added.

Sama police inspector PD Parmar said one of the accused, Keyur Parmar, was arrested in connection with the attack, adding that it had nothing to do with hate crimes against migrants. Vadodara police commissioner Anupam Singh Gahlaut said locals were unhappy with worker 'sitting indecently wearing lungi.

There has been a spate of attacks on migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar following a rape incident in which migrant labour is an accused.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 17, 2018 02:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).