A break-up. An Instagram friendship. A group of 15 young men armed with swords and sharp weapons, moving through one of Nagpur's most sensitive areas at midnight.

That is all it took to send shockwaves across the city — just hours before President Droupadi Murmu was scheduled to visit Nagpur.

What Happened in Mahal on Tuesday Night

The midnight rampage began in the Gadikhana and Joharipura localities of Mahal. A group of 12 to 15 youths moved from Shivaji Putla Square toward Ram Coolers Square, shouting abuses and smashing every vehicle in their path.

The trigger? The main accused had discovered that his ex-girlfriend had befriended another young man on Instagram. The dispute had been brewing for days. It erupted at midnight — in a locality still raw from last year's communal unrest — with swords, sticks, and sheer recklessness.

More than a dozen vehicles were damaged. Residents rushed out in panic. Alert locals managed to overpower some of the group and handed them over to police. By the time officers arrived and DCP Rahul Madne reached the scene, the damage was done.

Nine persons have been detained — two adults aged 19, and seven minors.

A Sensitive Area. A Relaxed Security Presence. A Preventable Disaster.

Here is what makes this incident particularly troubling. Mahal is classified as a sensitive locality. Following the communal violence of March 2025, the area was under heightened police surveillance for months.

That surveillance had recently been relaxed. Residents noted minimal police presence near Shivaji Putla Square at the time of the incident. And a group of 15 armed youths walked through the neighbourhood without detection until citizens themselves intervened.

The incident happened the night before a Presidential visit — when the entire city was supposedly under elevated security protocols.

This is a monitoring gap. And monitoring gaps, at their core, are data gaps.

Social Media Is Now a Crime Intelligence Data Source

The Mahal rampage was triggered by an Instagram post. This is not unusual anymore. A significant and growing proportion of youth-involved crimes in Indian cities are directly connected to social media disputes — relationship conflicts, public humiliation, group rivalries, and online provocation that escalate into offline violence within hours.

Law enforcement agencies globally are already using social media analytics as a crime intelligence tool. Machine learning models scan public posts for escalating conflict patterns. Sentiment analysis tools flag threatening language directed at individuals or localities. Network graph analysis maps connections between known offenders and their online associates.

These tools do not invade privacy. They work on public data — the same posts that go viral on WhatsApp and news sites within hours of an incident. The professionals who build and operate these systems are data scientists. And Nagpur, a city where social media has twice now been linked to street violence, needs more of them working alongside its law enforcement infrastructure.

Build a Career That Keeps Cities Safe

If you want a career where your skills protect communities — where the analytical tools you build help a police team prevent a midnight rampage rather than respond to one — then a Data Scientist Course at ExcelR Nagpur is where that journey begins.

The curriculum covers Python, machine learning, SQL, social network analytics, and data visualisation — all taught through real-world projects by working industry professionals. Every module is built around outcomes.

Nagpur's job market is expanding fast. MIHAN's corporate zone, the city's healthcare and logistics sectors, and the growing IT presence are all hiring data professionals right now. The gap between what employers need and what the talent pool offers is real — and it is your opportunity.

A Data Scientist Course in Nagpur at ExcelR connects your training directly to those opportunities — with dedicated placement support and mentorship from professionals currently working in the field.

ExcelR Nagpur: Where Smart Careers Begin

ExcelR has been placing data science graduates in real roles across real companies for years.

Fifteen youths with swords walked through Mahal at midnight because a monitoring gap let them. The city deserves systems that close those gaps before the damage is done.

Be part of building those systems.

Name: ExcelR - Data Science, Data Analyst Course in Nagpur Address: Incube Coworking, Vijayanand Society, Plot no 20, Narendra Nagar, Somalwada, Nagpur, Maharashtra 440015 Phone Number: 063649 44954