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Fresh violence in Mau; top officials suspended
Tribune News Service

Lucknow, October 16
After a peaceful day, fresh violence broke out in Mau this evening. With no more deaths reported, the situation was described as better than yesterday. The curfew was not relaxed for the third consecutive day and shoot-at-sight orders continued.

With Governor T.V. Rajeswar scheduled to visit the strife-torn city on Monday, a visibly nervous district administration was gearing up to face the music. In view of the demand for calling the Army, the Governor visits acquires a political significance.

To prevent politicians from extracting political mileage out of the communal violence, the district administration barred leaders from entering the district. BJP president Keshari Nath Tripathi and senior BJP leaders Kalyan Singh and Lalji Tandon were detained at the Sultanpur-Jaunpur border.

Similarly, MP Adityanath Yogi of Gorakhpur was stopped from crossing the Ghaghra river to enter the district.

Another 26 preventive arrests were made from different parts of the city. According to a resident of Sindhi Colony near the railway station, there were tense moments in the afternoon when the news spread that a youth had been killed at the station.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Government suspended Divisional Commissioner D. D. Singh, DIG Prabhat Kumar, District Magistrate Heera Mani Singh Yadav and SSP Akhilesh Kumar Mishra for their failure to control violence. Mukesh Meshram and Sujit Pandey had been appointed new DM and SSP respectively.