BJP men on rampage, curfew in Ghazipur

Curfew was declared in Ghazipur as violence continued today in the wake of the killing of controversial BJP legislator Krishnanand Rai and h...

Curfew was declared in Ghazipur as violence continued today in the wake of the killing of controversial BJP legislator Krishnanand Rai and his six supporters. The seven were shot dead in Bashania village of Ghazipur yesterday. By late evening, violence had broken out in neighbouring areas.

Today, violent BJP supporters set fire to a power substation in Mohammadabad and railway property in Ghazipur. Dhonadiha railway station building on Chapara-Varanasi route was burnt to ground.

Trouble began early this morning with Roy’s supporters gathering on the roads. Around 9.30 am, a group of Roy’s supporters attacked the railway employees at Dhonadih railway station.

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‘‘They beat me up. Then they sprayed petrol inside the office and set the entire building on fire. The Madiadiha-Chapara passenger train was stopped at the outer signal. The mob chased the train as the driver took it to the Yusufpur railway station,’’ said Divya Prakash, the assistant station master.

The attackers also damaged the cabin and gate number 24 at Rauza in Ghazipur town.

They set afire a few shops belonging to minority community in their apparent bid to give a communal colour to the shooting.

Vehicular traffic on the road between Varanasi and Ballia had to be stopped. Movement of trains on Chapara-Varanasi route also remained suspended.

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A fire brigade vehicle near Parsa village in Mohammadabad was intercepted and set on fire. The vehicle was on way to Dhonandih station to extinguish the fire. A few people, including policemen called to quell the mob sustained injuries in the following stone pelting.

In Gadaur, the administration was not allowed to take charge of the body for postmortem. Pitched battles started between the police and the crowd when the former tried to enter the village. Finally, the mob, led by former BJP MLA Manoj Kumar Sinha, brought all seven bodies to Ghazipur.

Rai was engaged in political war of supremacy with his rival and don-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari who represents Mau assembly seat.

The state government declared curfew and transferred the Ghazipur SP, Mukesh Babu Shukla. ‘‘Shukla would be replaced by STF SP Akhil Kumar. We have deployed enough forces to keep the situation under control,’’ said principal home secretary Alok Sinha.

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Admitting that shops belonging to the minority community were damaged, Kumar said, ‘‘that is why we have pressed the RAF”.