One person was killed by a stray police bullet, and twelve others injured in rioting triggered by the deaths of four men hit by a truck while returning from Shab-e-Barat, when Muslims pray for the dead.
Agra (UP), Aug 29 : One person was killed by a stray police bullet, and twelve others injured in rioting triggered by the deaths of four men hit by a truck while returning from "Shab-e-Barat", when Muslims pray for the dead.
The city remained tense after Muslims burned trucks and battled police.
Angry crowds set fire to at least 20 vehicles, mainly trucks, officials said. One shoe factory was also burnt in the rioting.
Prohibitory order had been imposed in the city and extra forces were requisitioned to prevent flare up of the situation.
"We are very sure that nothing untoward will happen now. The situation is very much under control and whatever minor incidents are there, they will be taken care of by additional force that we are calling in," said S.N. Singh, Inspector General of Police, Kanpur Zone.
The mobs had also hurled bricks at police and fire engines sent to stop the violence in area, injuring several policemen.
"We were about 100 feet from the place of incident when suddenly a mob of about thousand people came towards us and started pelting stones at us...They forced us out of the vehicle and started beating us. All our unit members are badly injured. Later, they also set our vehicle on fire," said Ranbir Singh, an injured policeman.
The state government has ordered closure of schools and colleges in the city.
Police also shut down the historic Taj Mahal for a brief period today.
Meanwhile, Union State Minister for Home Affairs, Sriprakash Jaiswal condemned the incident and asked the state government to take necessary steps to control the situation.
"No official report has come to us from Agra so far. All the information we have is what we learnt from television reports. We will talk to the state government and ask them to do the needful to control the situation there," said Jaiswal.
Meanwhile, Islamic clerics appealed people to maintain calm and restrain.
ANI