Police fire in air to disperse mob at Nagpur

Nagpur, Aug 21 (UNI) The police today had to resort to firing in the air to disperse a mob that tried to torch the house of one of the suspects allegedly involved in the murder of a Shiv Sena member from the Nagpur Zilla Parishad.

Nagpur district (rural) superintendent of police (SP) Yashaswai Yadav said that the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) men, fired three rounds in the air after supporters of the slain ZP member pelted stones at them, in Tarsa village, about 47 kilometres from here. Two men of the SRPF were injured, one of them seriously, in the stone pelting, he said.

The mob pelted stones after the SRPF men stopped them from trying to attack the house of one of the five suspects arrested in connection with the murder, he said.

''The situation is now peaceful and under control,'' the SP said.

A company of the SRPF was deployed in the village because of tension there, following the murder of Gopal Lohabare (38), a Shiv Sena leader and a member of Nagpur Zilla Parishad late on Sunday night. Shiv Sena activists staged a sit-in protest over the murder and set fire to two pan kiosks before the funeral, yesterday afternoon.

The police have arrested five suspects, Dattu Deshmukh, Shankar Deshmukh, Ravi Chavan, Ravindra Chandelwada and Devendra Konge, in connection with the murder. Mr Lohabare was allegedly axed to death by a group of about 10 to 12 armed men while he was on his way home on Sunday night.

UNI