Four vehicles were set on fire following a scuffle between members of the two communities on Friday morning.The incident took place at Karmcharinagar in Ghatlodia where members of one of the community had organised a night-long jagran and a garba programme. It is the first such clash between the two communities in the area.

Haresh Thakore, a resident of Motovas, Santej, Kalol in Gandhinagar district lodged a complaint in this connection. He has accused some 25 to 30 youths of a particular community of instigating the violence. Acting on the complaint, the police have so far arrested Amrut Rabari, Dinesh Rabari, Devraj Desai and Raghu Desai.

According to police, during the programme some 20 to 25 youths of a community were standing besides the venue where garba was going on.

"At around 4:30 in the morning, some youths started playing with the empty water jars which accidentally hit the son-in-law of the temple's priest. He was also one of the organisers of the event," the source said.

When people protested, a verbal fight broke out between members of the two communities.

"Soon the situation escalated and people began pelting stones at each other," said a police source. More than 2000 people were in attendance at the event.

But as members of one of the community outnumbered the others, the former burnt down four motorcycles belonging to the latter. Eye witnesses said that the youths had been creating nuisance for some time but the matter went out of hand after a jar hit the priest's son-in-law.

"The youths had been standing by the side. They started playing with some empty water vessels which then hit a member of the other community. This soon led to a fight and we have nabbed four people in this connection," said MU Pathan, senior Police Inspector, Ghatlodia.