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VHP activist killed in police firing
Our Correspondent and PTI

A woman and a child cross a railway line with their hands up to avoid being shot by the police, after one person was killed in the village of Taldi, Kolkata, on Sunday. Uttam Mandal, whose brother Tapan Mondal was wounded by police gun fire, speaks to reporters in Kolkata on Sunday. — Reuters photos

Canning (WB), March 10
Police firing and clashes between Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists and security personnel over performance of a yajna left one dead and 32 injured in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal today.

Trouble erupted, when VHP activists who had congregated since last night at Harisabha Mandir near Taldih railway station, 60 km from here, to perform a yajna and organise a dharma sabha, started raising slogans after being denied permission by the police to go ahead with their plans.

After the police began dispersing the mob by lathi charge and using teargas, the mob started pelting stones at the security personnel defying the prohibitory order prompting them to open fire, IG (Law and order) Chayan Mukherjee said. The police fired 20 rounds in which one person was killed on the spot.

The VHP tonight demanded a judicial probe into the incident. The organisation, in a statement, also demanded punishment of the guilty policemen and compensation for the family of the victim and for the injured.