Search the Internet           Tips

Toll in Jaunpur violence rises to 5

The toll in the communal violence at Maupur village of Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur district, near Varanasi, on Thursday rose to five with police recovering one more body on Friday evening.

There was, however, no untoward incident on Friday and police said the situation remained under control, though tense.

While an official spokesman flatly denied that the killings had anything to do with the second and final round of civic elections on Thursday, the incident did disrupt the electoral process in Jaunpur.

He said, "Tension was already prevailing in the village following the stabbing of a boy, Zahiruddin, on November 9 and Kailash Nath Singh, the local block pramukh, had gone there to cool rising tempers." But on his way back, some miscreants hurled bombs at him, killing him on the spot.

What made matters worse was the brutal killing of three Muslim men barely 200 metres away. "These persons were apparently killed and their bodies dumped in the Basuhi river in the neighbourhood," the spokesman said.

According to information reaching the state headquarters in Lucknow, the infuriated mob that killed the three men also set ablaze their car.

Six arrests have been made so far in this connection while a hunt has been launched to nab the other killers, police said.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report