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| 17th OCT 15:05 hrs IST | Mau violence toll rises to seven, 180 arrested
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- | Mau: Violent incidents continued unabated with two more deaths and recovery
of as many bodies in the communal violence that has rocked this district of
Uttar Pradesh for the last three days.
The official death toll on Sunday
reached seven. But unconfirmed reports put the death toll at
10.
Principal Secretary (Home) Alok Sinha here said a man was killed and
another wounded in fresh violence in Salempur edging Mau district. He said a
person injured in the communal flare-up in the district on October 14 today
succumbed to his injuries in a Varanasi hospital. Besides, two bodies were
recovered from separate spots in the communally-sensitive district, Sinha
added.
As many as 180 people have been arrested so far in connection
with the violence that erupted after postponement of the 'Bharat Milap'
programme in a particular area on Thursday evening.
Large scale
deployment of police personnel has been made in the rural districts to check
further spread of flare-up.
Earlier today, three senior BJP leaders were
stopped from entering Mau.
BJP national vice-president Kalyan Singh,
state unit president Keshri Nath Tripathi and leader of the Opposition in the
legislative assembly Lalji Tandon were denied entry into Mau by the district
administration.
DM Anurag Yadav and SP Abhay Prasad requested the three
leaders against entering Mau following orders by the state government to bar
political leaders from entering the riot-torn district.
The BJP leaders
were later shifted to the farmhouse of a local BJP leader. However, they have
not been arrested, officials clarified.
Curfew was clamped on Friday
following widespread communal violence and subsequent police firing in Mau
town.
Police have so far arrested 180 persons for inciting violence and
indulging in acts of arson.
Trouble started when a traditional programme
of 'Bharat Milap' on Dussehra was postponed Thursday night following tension
between two communities.
In the subsequent acts of arson and police
firing, seven persons have been killed and at least 39 others wounded, of which
over 12 were admitted to the BHU Medical College in Varanasi.
The
Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) patrolling
has been intensified in the troubled areas of Mau.
State principal
secretary Alok Sinha and DGP Yashpal Singh had yesterday airdashed to the town
to assess the situation.
The DGP had issued shoot-at-sight orders to
quell violence and rioting. The PAC and the RAF also staged a flagmarch
yesterday in the troubled spots.
The kshetra and zila panchayat polls in
Mau had been suspended in wake of the incident.
Controversial local
independent UP MLA Mukhtar Ansari had been asked to leave the district.
However, he refused to follow the orders of the local
administration.
The State government had announced an ex gratia payment
of Rs two lakh each to the families of those killed and Rs 25,000 to the
injured.
Mau, considered east UP's most communally-sensitive district,
has been divided into 22 sectors and two additional DGs and two IGs deployed to
monitor the situation.
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Last update: 19hrs. 00mins. IST
