Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday that the cost of damage to property during the violence in Nagpur on March 17 will be recovered from the rioters themselves.

Addressing mediapersons in the city, Fadnavis said: “The total cost of the damage caused will be calculated and will be recovered from the rioters themselves. If they fail to pay the money, their properties will be sold.”

To a question on whether the government would take “bulldozer action” on the lines of Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said: “Action in Maharashtra will be taken in our way. Wherever bulldozer action is needed, we will do that. No one will be spared.”

Although there are no provisions in Indian law that allow for demolishing property as a punitive measure, authorities in BJP-ruled states have resorted to such measures on numerous occasions.

The violence in Nagpur on March 17 took place hours after Hindutva groups held a protest in the city demanding that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb located in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar be removed.

Fadnavis told mediapersons on Saturday that a total of 104 persons have been taken into custody in connection with the violence. “Of these, 92 have been arrested,” he said. “Twelve of them are children in conflict with law, and action has been taken against them under that law [Juvenile Justice Act, 2015].”

The chief minister said that 68 allegedly inflammatory social media posts linked to the violence have been identified and deleted. He warned that those who incited violence through social media will also be treated as co-accused persons.

To a question on whether the violence was the result of an intelligence failure, Fadnavis said: “There was only a small time period between this incident [protest by Hindutva groups] and the subsequent violence. It was not a situation where there was a lot of time to gather intelligence and prepare. One may say that there could have been better intelligence, but there was no intelligence failure.”

On March 17, the clashes broke out in central Nagpur’s Chitnis Park at 7.30 pm. Stones were thrown at the police amid rumours that a cloth with the Islamic declaration of faith, known as the Kalma, had been burnt during an agitation by a Hindutva group in the late afternoon.

The police, however, denied that such a cloth was burned during the protest.

Another clash erupted in Hansapuri, an area close to Chitnis Park, between 10.30 pm and 11.30 pm. The violence also spread to Kotwali and Ganeshpeth areas.