Uneasy calm prevails in curfew bound Aligarh areas

Aligarh, May 30 (UNI) Amid uneasy calm today, indefinite curfew in five police station areas of this sensitive town following Sunday's communal violence continued for the third day.

Meanwhile, police superintendent (city) D P Singh was removed and Ferozabad district police chief Jagdish Sharma posted in his place.

Sources said the curfew could be relaxed tomorrow after a review of the situation this evening.

Violence had erupted after local BJP leader and trader O P Gupta was shot dead by armed miscreants. While Bablu -- one of the accused -- was lynched by locals, Azimullah died of bullet wounds in a city hospital. At least nine people were also wounded in the clash.

Indefinite curfew was imposed in Sasani Gate, Dehli Gate, Kotwali, Bannadevi and Gandhi Park areas.

Meanwhile, a team of Special Task Force (STF) reached here to probe the incident.

Senior officials including ADG (Law and Order) Padman Singh, Agra division commissioner Ashok Kumar and IG (Kanpur Zone) Rizwan Ahmed are camping in Aligarh and keeping close watch on the developments.

Mr Singh told UNI that adequate security was available in the district to deal with any eventuality.

Meanwhile, Rajendra Kumar has been posted as additional district magistrate. The post was lying vacant for quite some time.

Sources claimed the situation was fast returning to normal and there was no fresh report of any untoward incident.

Civil groups and the state government have announced a reward of Rs two lakh and Rs one lakh respectively for anyone giving clues to similar incidents in the last 10 days.

Last night, chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh to the kin of those killed in the communal flare-up. The seriously injured and those with minor injuries will be given Rs one lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively.

On April 5 last, a similar spate of communal violence between two communities had claimed five lives, following which curfew was clamped in three police station areas.

UNI VS VD ND1644