'The two groups shot at each other and it was lucky no one was killed.'
An arsenal of weapons including swords, axes, knives and handguns were seized by police after two rival gangs erupted into violence at a kabaddi tournament.
The attack happened on August 20 last year at the tournament in Alvaston, near Derby, after crowds gathered to watch the tournament in a field off Elvaston Lane.
Samuel Skinner, prosecuting, told the jury: ‘At around 4pm, police began to receive calls from spectators that a serious disturbance was taking place and shots had been fired.
‘Two groups of men posing as spectators were intent on committing serious violence and had firearms, knives, swords and bats and were wearing face masks and scarves around their faces.
‘There were repeated firearms discharges, which can be heard on footage taken by people on their mobiles, and spectators can be seen running for cover.
‘The two groups shot at each other and it was lucky no one was killed.
‘Initially, it was not clear to the police who was the victim and who was the perpetrator. It was a confusing situation and statements were taken and weapons recovered.’
More than 20 weapons, including two guns, were recovered after the violent disorder which saw people on both sides of the conflict injured. One man was shot in the leg while another was hit in the groin by a bullet.
There are three men in the dock accused of violent disorder: Melkeet Singh, 34, of Osmaston Road, Derby; Malkeet Singh, 23, of Grindleford Road, Birmingham; and another man, who cannot be named but is just known as ‘the West Midlands man’.
They were all charged with violent disorder while the West Midlands man was charged with possessing firearms and Malkeet Singh with possessing offensive weapons.
The three men are currently on trial over their alleged role in the chaos, while four other men have already pleaded guilty.
Kabaddi is a team contact sport, usually played by members of seven people.
Also known as Kaudi, the objective of the game is for a single player, named the ‘raider’, to lead the offence by running into the opposing team’s half of the court.
Their goal is to ‘touch out’ as many of their players and return to their own team’s half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders on the other team in 30 seconds.
Each team will score points for every player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider.
Derby Kabaddi has been holding tournaments for about 40 years.
Malkeet Singh and Melkeet Singh were with one group while the West Midlands Man was in the second group.
A semi-automatic gun was found in a bag in a gap in the hedge which had the West Midlands man’s DNA on the zip and on the muzzle.
Group B met before the kabaddi event at a community centre in Brunswick Street, Derby, and footage of that meeting was shown to the jury.
A written statement by Maninder Singh Purewal, who owns the field where the tournament was taking place for the first time, said he let the tournament organisers use the field free of charge.
The trial continues.
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