Police had to resort to cane charge and firing in the air to quell protests by villagers in Chhattisgarh's Sarguja district, which turned violent leaving 59 persons, including 35 cops injured.

A day after the brutal police action on Thursday in which the aged man was punched and brought to the ground as police rained cane on him and several unarmed men, the Chhattisgarh government ordered a magisterial inquiry into the cane charge. Sarguja is the home district of Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam.

The agitating villagers were protesting in Ajaib Nagar, 525 km from Raipur, against the murder of a hotel owner Vijay Deonath while demanding the arrest of the persons involved in the crime.

Police fired 11 rounds in air and baton charged to disperse the mob in which 24 villagers were injured, sources told PTI.

After getting information of the blockade, the district magistrate and senior police officers reached the spot and tried to clear the road but the villagers attacked the policemen, the sources said.

The protestors damaged several vehicles and attacked the police with stones and canes, in which 35 policemen were injured, sources said.