• One dead at Rajkumar riot

  A mourner was killed and six policemen injured when angry fans rioted yesterday after being denied the chance to pay last respects to south Indian movie star Rajkumar.

  The violence - in which buses were torched and cars smashed - broke out as more than 20,000 fans pushed to gain entry to a stadium in the southern city of Bangalore where the former star’s body was on display.

  Trouble continued as it was taken to the grounds of a film studio for burial. Fans torched a police vehicle and battled officers who fired tear gas to keep them at bay.

  "One person died when a policeman opened fire in self-defence near the stadium," Gopal Hosur, joint commissioner of police, told AFP.

  Bangalore city police spokesman Uday Bhaskar said six policemen were injured when the crowd threw stones at them. Extra police had been deployed, he said.

  Violence broke out when access to the stadium was restricted. Inside the stadium women, children and elderly men carried flowers, garlands and incense sticks to heap over the casket.

  They shouted slogans such as "Long Live Rajkumar" and wept and beat their chests.

  The casket was then taken in an open truck to the studio in Bangalore where Rajkumar shot most of his films, in a procession that snaked its way through narrow roads packed with the 77-year-old former actor’s fans.

  State authorities had earlier appealed for peace in the city, where mourning fans had torched buses and cars overnight after the star died of a cardiac arrest.

  "By such acts you will only be showing disrespect to him. I request you not to bring discredit to his name," said HD Kumaraswamy, chief minister of Karnataka state.

  Shops, business establishments, banks, government offices and technology companies remained closed for two days of mourning. The Indian flag flew at half-mast on all government buildings.

  Rajkumar acted in over 200 films, playing roles ranging from tough cop to spurned lover.

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