Author:
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: September 1, 2007
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/sep/01allahabad.htm
Curfew was clamped in six areas of Allahabad
and educational institutions were ordered closed on Saturday after a mob attacked
a police station and damaged several vehicles over the alleged desecration
of a holy book inside a place of worship.
Ten policemen, including two sub-inspectors,
were injured in the "pre-planned" attack on Kareli police station
and 14 people were so far arrested on charges of rioting and inciting communal
tension, Uttar Pradesh Director-General of Police Vikram Singh said in Allahabad.
He said the trouble erupted late on Friday
night in Kareli area where "a holy book was allegedly desecrated inside
a place of worship."
Some people lodged a police complaint and
went away after an assurance but a few minutes later, a mob collected outside
the police station, throwing stones and damaging vehicles there.
Police used batons and fired in the air to
disperse the mob and two companies of PAC and one of RAF were deployed after
the situation was brought under control.
"All this proves it was a conspiracy"
and not a spontaneous outburst, Singh said while Additional DGP Brijlal added
a large number of people would not have gathered in such a short span of time
had it not been "pre-planned".
He said curfew was imposed in Kareli, Shahganj,
Kotwali, Khuldabad, Atarsuiya and parts Dhoomanganj police station areas and
educational institutions across the city were ordered closed for the day as
a precautionary measure.
