The Hindu : 2 killed in police firing in Godhra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 26, 2002

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2 killed in police firing in Godhra

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD May 25. After remaining peaceful for about 10 days, disturbances resurfaced in Gujarat today. Two persons were killed and nine injured in police firing in Godhra, while a bomb explosion caused panic in the Rakhial locality of Ahmedabad.

At least two houses and some shops and cabins were set afire and two cases of stabbing were reported in Godhra. An indefinite curfew has been clamped and K.P.S. Gill, Security Adviser to the Chief Minister, and other senior officials arrived in the town to study the situation. Additional police forces have been rushed to Rakhial.

The disturbances in Godhra, scene of the train carnage on February 27 that sparked the communal riots in the State, started on Friday night after a bomb exploded in Juharpura locality. Soon people from both the communities came out on the streets and indulged in stone-throwing. During the scuffle, three crude bombs were thrown, forcing the police to open fire, in which one person was killed. Even as the mobs dispersed in Juharpura, the stabbing of two women, who were said to be sleeping in their house, in the neighbouring Makarkuwa locality caused another round of violence.

As the two groups indulged in heavy stone-throwing, the police opened fire again and one more person was killed. Police said that at least nine persons were injured in the firing, three of them seriously.

Police are baffled over the recrudescence of violence, particularly on the day of the Muslim festival, Id-e-Milad. They believe that some "mischief-makers" from outside Godhra caused the bomb explosion. The recovery of an abandoned car bearing a Vadodara number strengthened the suspicion.

Police also do not rule out the possibility of a link between today's disturbances and the filing of chargesheets against 68 accused, including many minority leaders of the area, in the train carnage. Incidentally, Godhra by and large remained peaceful after the train carnage when almost the entire central and north Gujarat regions were scarred by violence.

Police, with the help of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Rapid Action Force, were carrying out a massive combing operation in Godhra. A large quantity of arms and ammunition were seized and 43 persons arrested.

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2 killed in police firing in Godhra