Two killed in police firing at Mathura, probe ordered

Lucknow: Violence swept a village in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district on Tuesday after a man died after he was allegedly beaten up and shot by police, while another person died in police firing later and at least six others were injured. A probe has been ordered, said officials.

According to information available, the incident in Shergarh village was triggered when a local villager, Jitendra, involved in illegal mining, was taking a tractor trolley towards Mant.

Villagers said the policemen on duty sought money from him to let the trolley pass after which the man tried to flee. The policemen hit him on head with a baton and shot at him. He died on way to the hospital, after which irate villagers attacked a police station, set on fire six vehicles, including two bikes, and damaged a police jeep and five other cars.

Police resorted to firing to control the crowd, in which seven people including Babu, Mahendra, Ajit and Pritam were shot. Babu died on way to the hospital.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kumar Vishwakarma told IANS here that a station house officer, one sub-inspector and five police constables were suspended by the government over the incident. Four villagers have also been booked.

While the situation was brought under control, tension continued in the area till late night. Several companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed in the violence-hit area.

The state government announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh each for the families of the deceased and Rs.50,000 for those injured.

A magisterial probe has also been ordered into the incident, a home department spokesman told IANS.

The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) attacked the state government for firing at "innocent farmers" and alleged this was being done at the behest of the ruling Samajwadi Party.

Party MP Jayant Chowdhary condemned the incident while the state RLD president Munna Singh Chauhan said it was "strange that police who run in wake of criminal attacks were opening fire on innocent farmers".