Curfew continued in the Singrauli Municipal Corporation area on Saturday, a day after a youth was killed in police firing, following mob violence protesting the death of a 30-year-old trader, allegedly in police custody.
The violence erupted after the body of Akhilesh Sahu was found floating in a well in Bilaonji village, three km from the district headquarters, Waidhan, on Friday. Sahu had been detained by the police in a case of diesel theft from Coal India on December 5, in which his cousin Vijay is accused. Villagers refused to let the police remove the body, demanding that the Superintendent of Police, A. Jayadevan, meet them. The SP did not meet the protesters.
“No arrests have been made and the situation is under control. Additional DGP Rajendra Kumar is investigating and a magisterial probe has been ordered. The body was taken out today and the post mortem was conducted by a team of doctors from Rewa, which was videographed. Three civilians are recovering from bullet injuries and many others, including policemen, are being treated in Singrauli for injuries caused during the rioting,” Director-General of Police Nandan Dube told The Hindu .
Almost 1000 police officers under the command of Inspector General (Rewa) R.K. Gupta kept vigil over the coal mining town 780 km east of Bhopal, where curfew was imposed on Friday after several government vehicles were burnt.
