Lucknow: Curfew has been imposed in Kasganj after fresh violence broke out on Saturday in which half a dozen shops and a bus were torched by the mob. A religious structure was also attacked by the mob.
The police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the crowds that turned violent after the cremation of Chandan Gupta, 22, who was killed in Friday’s firing when clashes took places between two communities.
The police used the public address system to tell the people to remain indoors throughout Saturday. ADG (law and order) Anand Kumar said that IG D.K. Thakur had been sent to Kasganj on Saturday and 49 persons had been taken into custody in connection with Friday’s violence.
“A complaint has been filed at the Kasganj Police Station and nine involved persons have been arrested so far. A special team has also been constituted and we are trying to arrest others involved as well”, said the official spokesman.
The borders of the district have been sealed and Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed in the communally sensitive areas. Five companies of PAC have also been deployed in the troubled town.
Hindu leader Sadhvi Prachi was prevented from travelling towards Kasganj on Saturday. She and her supporters sat on dharna on the Bareilly- Mathura highway.
District magistrate R.P. Singh and SP Sunil Singh patrolled the troubled areas while IG Agra and IG Aligarh were also asked to move to Kasganj.
It may be recalled that violence broke out in Kasganj on Friday when a motorcycle rally was being taken out by VHP and ABVP activists and some members of the other community passed inflammatory slogans.
Both groups hurled stones at each other before shots were fired in which Chandan Gupta was killed.
Another person injured in the clashes, Naushad, is admitted to hospital. According to reports, both had bullet injuries even though the police kept denying that firing had taken place during the violence.
