RAJKOT: At least two persons were killed, one of them in police firing, and 20 injured when an eve-teasing incident flared into a full-scale communal riot that engulfed the whole fishing port town of Veraval in Junagadh district on Monday.

Complete lawlessness prevailed even after imposition of curfew and shoot-at-sight orders at 2.30 pm, when the riot was well at its peak. Both communities alleged of police inaction, which led to escalation of violence during which a youth was stabbed to death.

Officials did not confirm a third death which, eye-witnesses said, took place when a mob set ablaze another hapless victim.

By evening, some 15 houses had been looted, and over 40 shops, cabins and vehicles burnt, some of them right outside police outposts.