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Lucknow: Violence
broke out in Deoband city in northwest Uttar Pradesh late Tuesday,
following the death of a vendor who was allegedly beaten up by
policemen. Angry mobs soon took to the streets and indulged in
heavy stone pelting.
Police allegedly forcibly removed the vendor's cart and beat him
up, resulting in his death. Deoband is a city in Saharanpur
district, 580 km from state capital Lucknow.
The angry crowd soon targeted vehicles passing through the area
and set on fire three cars. In the stone pelting, the circle
officer of Deoband, Charan Singh, and three other policemen
suffered injuries.
Heavy reinforcement of police has been rushed to the violence-hit
area and the deputy inspector general of police (DIG) and the
senior superintendent of police (SSP) are camping in the area to
thwart any attempt to escalate the violence, Inspector General of
Police (Law and Order) R.K. Vishwakarma told IANS.
Police said preliminary reports suggest that the incident
triggered off during an anti-encroachment drive, during which some
carts and vendors were removed forcibly from the roadside.
In the melee that followed, owing to protests by shopkeepers, a
policeman allegedly hit a vendor named Afzal by a baton and he
died.
When the crowd went berserk and vent their ire on the police
force, the circle officer and the inspector fled the crime scene
and took refuge in the Public Works Department (PWD) guest house,
which was also attacked by the mob.
"Additional police force from Shamli and Bijnore districts have
been rushed to the violence-hit area, but the situation is still
not under control. We are however trying our best," Vishwakarma
said.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is in New Delhi to take an
early Wednesday flight to the US for his Harvard business school
trip, has been informed of the developments, officials said.
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