Two persons were killed and five others injured in police firing on Thursday when Gujjar protesters indulged in arson at Bonli in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district, a senior official said.
Army was called out to assist the civil administration, the Superintendent of Police of Sawai Madhopur Jose Mohan told PTI over telephone.
With Thursday's violence in Sawai Madhopur and in Kotputali on Wednesday night, the death toll in Gujjars' stir in last three days has risen to 18.
One protestor was killed in police firing in Paniyala village in Jaipur's Kotputali block on Wednesday night, a senior police official said.
The agitation continued to paralyse normal life across the state and road blocks across state highways brought
vehicular traffic to a grind. Security was stepped up in the state with hundreds of army personnel deployed along the
highways.
A report from Kota, quoting official sources, said the bandh supporters gathered at Jagpuri police post in Kota this morning, clashed with the police and set a police post afire. A sub inspector sustained injuries, while six police personnel managed to run for safety, says UNI.
'The prostestors also mobbed the milk dairy complex and damaged the property. The milk supply in the areas was also affected,' the report said.
Violence continued to be reported in many parts of the state with people in the Gujjar-dominated belt of Kotputali
turning violent and indulging in pitched battle with armed forces, leading to police opening fire after incidents of large-scale arson and destruction of vehicles, the official said.
Six army columns comprising 600 personnel have been deployed along National Highway 8 from Chandwaji to Behror on the Delhi-Jaipur highway and also covering Dausa and Kotputali, additional DGP Navdeep Singh told PTI.
Four columns of army were deployed each in Dholpur and Bundi, Singh said, adding that army jawans are guarding the highway and monitoring traffic wherever it is moving.
Protestors also set ablaze a police post near Vigyan Nagar, and indulged in arson near the railway station in Kota,
organised widespread bandhs in Ajmer, Pushkar, Alwar, Bharatpur, Chittorgarh, Tonk, Kota, and parts of the outskirt of Jaipur.
In Jaipur, the police detained up to 300 youths attempting to put up blockades and throwing stones on vehicles on the Sikar-Chomu and Jaipur-Tonk routes.
Agitators also damaged a railway signal, set on fire the railway station's rooms, and burnt used tyres on the track at
Malarna-Dungari station in Sawai-Madhopur district, a senior police official said, adding they also removed a small
portion of the rail track at Bonli village.
Two columns of the army were deployed in parts of Sawai-Madhopur and Gangapur city, he said.
Stray incidents of arson at public places including bus and railway stations were reported from Chittorgarh, Jhalawar,
Ajmer, Ramganjmandi, Bhilwara, Itawa, and Dholpur cities, an official spokesman at the police headquarters said.
Dausa, Kotputali, Ajmer, Bhilwara, Kota and the outskirts of Jaipur observed bandh following a call given by the the Gujjar Arakashan Manch.
A total of 16 people have been killed in the agitation. Of these seven each were killed in Bundi and
Dausa-Karauli districts, one each in Bayana and Kotputali.
However, the unofficial death has been put at 18.
Attendance in government and private offices in the state capital however remained unaffected.
