The Mantola police call it a communally-sensitive area as it flares up frequently.

An everyday issue here, however, is non-availability of clean drinking water given the large number of factories and illegal slaughterhouses that have polluted ground water. Hindu residents of Teela Nandgram colony depend on an RO (reverse osmosis) plant in the adjoining Munda Pada colony that is inhabited by Muslims.

On 3 February (Sunday) around 8 pm, Pramod Kumar was returning after fetching water from the RO plant when a group of Muslim men caused him to trip and fall.

"They did it intentionally. They always stand in groups and tease us whenever we go into their colony," Kumar, who works in a shoe factory, told Swarajya.

Pramod said he fell down, wounded his head and and let out some expletives. He then returned home (hardly 20 metres from the spot) and asked his elder brothers Arun and Anil to accompany him to confront the group.

As per the brothers, the Muslim group had by then been joined by scores of fellow community members who launched an attack on their houses. "They started throwing stones and bricks and even fired gunshots. They threw bottles filled with acid from their terrace," said Arun.

Three houses in a row, all belonging to the brothers, were attacked. When Swarajya visited the site on Wednesday (6 February), they showed us the bullet marks on the walls, and glass bottles that were still lying on their terrace.