M A I N   N E W S

22 killed in Gujarat violence
Toll mounts to 558

Ahmedabad, March 6
Communal violence refused to subside in Gujarat as 22 persons were killed in a series of fresh attacks near Godhra and Mehmdabad of Kheda district taking the toll to 558 even as 212 unclaimed bodies, many of them burnt beyond recognition, were given mass burial here today.

A cook was stabbed to death and 13 bodies were recovered in Mehmedabad, about 150 km from here, forcing the authorities to clamp indefinite curfew in the central Gujarat town today.

Police sources said 13 bodies were recovered today and they were most probably killed yesterday. Tension gripped the town after the news of the cook’s murder spread like wildfire and reports about the recovery of 13 bodies of violence victims became public, the sources said.

The police pulled out eight more bodies, including that of three children and two women, who were suspected to have been killed last evening in places adjoining Godhra town, the sources said.

Of the bodies recovered from Santarampur taluka, at least 80 km from here, that of two men were charred.

Six other bodies, including that of children, were taken out from a village well, sources said.

As many as 212 bodies of men, women and children, victims of violence, were buried at Dhudeshwar, Juhapura, Sarkhej and Sarangpur and Ahmedabad in the last three days.

Meanwhile, Justice K.G. Shah, a reitred judge of the Gujarat High Court, was appointed to head the judicial probe into Godhra carnage and communal frenzy in the state which will submit its report in three months. PTI 

SP MLA shot in front of Raj Bhavan

The assailant of Samajwadi MLA Mansoor Ahmed being carried away from the murder site in Lucknow on Wednesday. — PTI photo

Lucknow, March 6
Samajwadi party MLA Mansoor Ahmed was today shot dead in broad day light in front of the Raj Bhavan in the presence of top police officials when he was sitting on a dharna along with other newly elected legislators to press the Governor to invite the SP to form the government.

According to the police, one of the two assailants Abhishek Bharadwaj from Jaunpur was apprehended and is now under arrest.

DIG Daya Shankar Singh said the police heard a gun shot near gate No 3 of the Raj Bhavan and “we ran and saw a country-made pistol lying and one person running whom we caught.

The MLA from the Baheri Assembly constituency in Bareilly district was rushed to the hospital, but he died on his way, the police said. The police said Bharadwaj was being interrogated and investigations were on to ascertain the antecedents of the assailant and also the motive behind the killing.

It did not rule out the possibility of personal enmity behind the killing.

A countrymade pistol and a used cartridge were recovered from the scene of the attack, the police said.

Immediately after the killing, the SP called off the dharna and its leaders and legislators paid tributes to the slain MLA.

Senior party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav termed the killing as “an attempt by the caretaker BJP government to create terror in UP.”

Earlier, the Samajwadi Party legislators and senior office-bearers were staging a dharna in front of Raj Bhawan to press their demand for inviting the party to form the government, when the incident occurred.

Some legislators tried to enter Raj Bhawan but they were prevented from doing so by the police which used mild force to disperse them. All of a sudden a gun shot was heard and Mansoor Ahmed was seen lying in a pool of blood with bullet injuries before the Raj Bhavan gate.

Meanwhile, SSP B.B. Bakshi told PTI that the investigations so far pointed towards personal enmity as the motive for the murder. PTI