An Armyman on his way to get his children admitted to school, a brother taking the short-cut home from a shop he had newly opened, a young man about to get married, two men returning from work: the victims of yesterday’s Vadodara riots over the dargah demolition, Hindu and Muslim, were ordinary citizens not even aware of the controversy.

Consider the case of Subedar Ramchandra Meena (35), belonging to the Patiala unit of the EME. Following his recent transfer to Bhusawal, he was on training at the EME school in Vadodara until April 29. And on Monday, at around 12.45 pm, while the dargah was being demolished on the Fatehpura-Champaner road, he and his nephew Manoj Meena were on their way to the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Harni to secure admission for his three daughters when they came up against a police blockade.

“We asked around for a shortcut to Harni and entered Yakutpura. First, our motorcycle was stoned from neighbouring buildings and then about a dozen men gheraoed us. They started beating my uncle and confined me inside Minara Masjid. I was rescued by some women from the neighbourhood. When I reached my uncle he was bleeding profusely, I took him to a nearby hospital on my motorcycle,” recalled Manoj Meena.

At the Swami Premdass Hospital, doctors told Manoj that his uncle was no more. A post-mortem report confirmed that Meena had died of stab wounds in his back and stomach.

Today, EME personnel, accompanied by Meena’s wife, daughters and his brother-in-law, came to pick up his body. “We are taking the body for cremation to our native village in Bhilwada, Rajasthan,” said his brother-in-law Bhanwarlal Meena.

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