File photo of clashes in Aurangabad.

AURANGABAD: Police have ordered an investigation into the involvement of police personnel in the communal riots that started in the city late on Friday night on the basis of a video that shows cops accompanying rioters who were torching vehicles and property.

A nine-minute video clip that appears to have been recorded in the early hours of Saturday from a window of a roadside building clearly shows a group of around 10 policemen walking with the rioters who were carrying some material which they used to torch vehicles.

Though the footage did not circulate on social media as internet services in the city were suspended, it has left the police administration red-faced. "The issue is very serious, and we are probing it. I can promise that no guilty policeman or rioter will be spared," acting police chief of Aurangabad Milind Bharambe said.

Acting police chief of Aurangabad Milind Bharambe watched a video clip shot by a local in which the policemen remain mute spectators.

Additional DGP (law and order) Bipin Bihari , who has been sent to Aurangabad to supervise the situation and check violence, said, "No one, including police, will be spared for taking law into their own hands."

The video also shows the rioters damaged parked vehicles in the presence of the policemen. After breaking the windshields of vehicles, a person whose face was covered with a white scarf, is seen torching four vehicles parked in front of Bhartiya Nursing Home in the Nawabpura area.

After torching the vehicles, the miscreants are also seen torching a gadget shop nearby. Residents told TOI that suspect rioters also torched several vehicles at the Nawabpura Rajabazar crossroad, before heading towards Jinsi. This is the second such case where policemen have been caught on camera not doing their job. Earlier, during the Mitmita violence that took place when residents of the area protested against the dumping of garbage in their area, policemen were caught on CCTV cameras hurling stones at houses.

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