Gorakhpur tense but peaceful; admin forms Peace Committee

Gorakhpur, Jan 30 (UNI) Efforts were on to bring the situation back to normal in the riot-torn eastern Uttar Pradesh district of Gorakhpur even as the new DM and SSP formed a peace committee.

The Shia clerics in the district have agreed to cancel -- or at least postpone -- the Mharram procession today to avoid any untoward incident.

Newly-appointed Gorakhpur police chief S K Bhagat told UNI today that efforts were on to restore normalcy in the district. ''We have called a meeting of senior citizens of the two communities to ensure that peace is established and normalcy returns at the earliest,'' he said.

The four police station areas where curfew was clamped after violence on friday night have been turned into fortresses with a heavy police bandobast. Companies of Sashastra Suraksha Bal (SSB), Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed.

The administration has decided to withdraw the relaxation in curfew in the afected areas after one person was killed and another injured in an incident of firing last night.

While two people have been killed, over five were reported injured in cases of violence and arson. Over 100 people have been rounded up for indulging in violence and arson, police said.

Miscreants had opened fire at a 'baraat' procession on Friday night, in which over 24 people were wounded in Ismailpur under Kotwali police station area at Gorakhpur.

Some people, trying to escape the shootout, entered a Moharram procession nearby, leading to a clash between the two groups. The situation turned tense after a wounded Raj Kumar Agrahari died at Gorakhpur Medical College.

Later, BJP MP Yogi Adityanath was arrested for violating prohibitory orders followed by some violence by his supporters in Gorakhnath area to protest his arrest. Soon after, curfew was clamped on the Gorakhnath area too.

The state government last evening suspended DM Hari Om and SSP Raja Srivastava for their alleged laxity to contain the violence.

Rakesh Kumar Goel and S K Bhagat have been appointed as the new DM and SSP of the district respectively.

Meanwhile, top UP BJP leaders on way to Gorakhpur were taken into custody by police this morning.

Official sources said here, BJP state unit president Kesharinath Tripathi was arrested at Soraon soon after he left Allahabad for the riot-torn Gorakhpur. Efforts were on to take him to a government guest house.

Similarly, BJP legislature party leader and Leader of the Opposition in the state legislative assembly Lalji Tandon was taken into custody at Barabanki near the state capital.

UNI