Lucknow, Feb 26: One person was killed and about half a dozen others injured in a violent clash between two communities in the communally sensitive Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh.
On Monday evening, trouble broke out while a platform where an idol was kept beneath a banyan tree in Mohammadpur Bazar was being repaired.
Some people of a particular community thrashed a youth when he tried to stop them from repairing the platform. Later, some members belonging to another community attacked those who were constructing the platform.
Clashes broke out and some unidentified people opened fire, injuring at least a dozen. In the firing, 32-year-old Vijay Prasad Yadav of Rasoolpur village died while 20-year-old Mohammad Azhar of Mohammadpur was rushed to a hospital in Varanasi with bullet wounds.
Although there is a permanent police picket there, the two constables on duty allegedly escaped as soon as the two groups of people clashed.
Later some people resorted to arson, in which at least a dozen shops and two vehicles were gutted.
While clashes started around 8.30pm, the police team led by Circle Officer Ramesh Chandra Pathak arrived at least an hour late.
By that time the entire area was in the grip of violence. Superintendent of Police Anant Deo has suspended S. Siddiqi, Station House Officer of Rasoolpur, for dereliction of duty.
"The situation is under control. We have deployed PAC there and detained some rioters," Deo said.
The Opposition demanded Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's resignation over the incident.
Tension prevailed in the area and security forces were rushed from the neighbouring police stations to maintain law and order. Officials were trying to defuse the situation by speaking to the members of the two communities.
The administration was not taking any chances in view of the recent communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar district that had claimed 62 lives and left hundreds injured. Thousands of people were displaced in the riots and many of them are still living in relief camps.
More than a dozen incidents of communal violence have taken place in the state since the Samajwadi Party (SP) government assumed office in March 2012. Muslim leaders have slammed the state government for their alleged failure to check communal violence.
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