Vadodara remains incident free during curfew relaxation

Vadodara, May 7 (UNI) The riot-hit Vadodara city remained incident free during seven hours curfew relaxation from 0900 hrs to 1600 hrs today in six police station areas of Panigate, Raopura, Wadi, Karelibaug, City and Navapura.

Following the improvement in the law and order situation, the authorities have further extended the relaxation period to nine hours tomorrow from 0800 hrs to 1700 hrs in all the six curfew-bound areas.

Today, for the first time in the last one week, curew was relaxed simultaneously in all areas. Barring a few, most of the shops and bazars in the strife-torn walled city area were open and did brisk business with people turning up in large numbers for shopping and buying essential commodities.

City police commissioner Deepak Swaroop, who convened a high level meeting this evening to take stock of the situation, said a decision with regard to the proposal for Army's withdrawal would be taken after a review of the law and order situation tomorrow evening.

In a lone incident reported early this morning, a shoe shop located in the third and fourth floors of a multi-storey building near the historic Raopura Tower, was gutted. Three fire tenders fought for nearly two hours to control the blaze.

Meanwhile, a Special Absconder Squad of the city police had arrested one Nilkanth Garagewala, one of the 12 persons accused in the brutal killing of Mohammad Rafiq Vora, who was stabbed and burnt alive in his car during fierce mob violence at Ajwa Road on Tuesday night. Nilkanth, who was nabbed from his Ajwa Road residence on a tip off yesterday, was remanded to four days police custody by a local court. Panigate police were still looking for 11 other accused, who were named in the FIR lodged by the victim's brother Mohammad Haji Vora.

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