Previous riot's revenge could have triggered Aligarh riot

Aligarh/Lucknow, May 29: The Uttar Pradesh government has not ruled out the possibility that the killing of a trader leader was aimed at taking revenge of the previous riots in the city, which triggered fresh communal flare-up yesterday.

''We cannot rule out the possibility that the murder of O P Gupta alias O P Lala was not aimed at revening the riots of April,'' said state Director General of Police (DGP) Bua Singh in the state capital.

Gupta was one of the accused in the rioting and was out on bail.

Recently, Raju 'Samosewala', another accused of the April riots was also shot dead.

The DGP said the Special Task Force (STF), along with the ''best investigators'' of the Agra division were investigating as to what led to the riot.

Indefinite curfew continued in five police stations of this town following last night's communal violence while the death toll rose to three.

Violence had erupted after a local BJP leader and trader O P Gupta was killed by miscreants yesterday. While Bablu, one of the accused in the shooting was lynched by locals, Azimullah died of bullet wounds in a city hospital. At least nine people were also injured in the clash between warring groups in Sasani Gate, Dehli Gate and Kotwali along with Bannadevi and Gandhi Park police station areas, where indefinte curfew has been clamped.

SSP Akhil Kumar, confirming three deaths, claimed that the situation was tense but under control.

Divisional commissioner (Agra) Ashok Kumar, who dashed to Aligarh last night, told UNI that intelligence failure was the main reason for the breakout of violence. ''We have so far not received any such report from the commissioner,'' said Principal Secretary (Home) S K Aggarwal.

Senior police officials, including ADG (Law and Order) Padman Singh and IG (Kanpur Zone) Rizwan Ahmed, have rushed here to asess the situation.

Meanwhile, police have detained two people -- Maskoor and Chote -- for the murder of the BJP leader.

Mr Gupta was one of the accused in the April 5 communal violence in the area in which five people were killed in police firing following a clash over prayers in a temple.

UNI