Curfew on in Aligarh, toll rises to 3

Shops and business establishments remained closed after Sunday's clashes between two communities in old city.

Indefinite curfew continued on Monday in five areas of this town where the situation remained tense after the killing of a local BJP leader even as two people succumbed to injuries sustained in communal clashes.

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Curfew was imposed in the Delhi Gate, Sasni Gate and Kotwali areas and later extended to Banna Devi and Gandhi Park as a precautionary measure following violence incited by the killing yesterday of prominent trader OP Gupta, who was also a BJP leader.

Two persons who sustained stab wounds in communal clashes last evening succumbed to their injuries in hospital on Monday, taking the death toll in the violence to three.

"The situation is tense but under control and no fresh violence was reported," Additional Director General of Police Padman Singh said in Lucknow before rushing to Aligarh to assess the situation.

Gupta's body was consigned to the flames amidst tight security, police said.

Shops and business establishments here remained closed after Sunday's clashes between members of two communities.

Sources said the Aligarh Muslim University's examinations had been cancelled following the violence.

Certain areas in Aligarh had witnessed communal clashes last month too, leading to the imposition of curfew.