Four killed in Vadodara violence

The demolition of a 200-yr-old dargah by VMC sparked the clashes.

The demolition of a more than 200-year-old dargah in Vadodara on Monday by civic authorities sparked widespread violence in which four persons were killed in clashes and police firing, forcing the authorities to impose curfew in the sensitive walled city.

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Twenty-two people were injured, many of them in police firing and the others in stone-pelting, at the Champaner Gate area following violent protests against the demolition of the dargah of Rafikuddin Ramatullah Aulia by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation.

A policeman was among the injured. Two locals of Yakoutpura, who were among the protestors, succumbed to bullet injuries received in the police firing. Two more persons were stabbed to death in clashes.

Police opened fire after failing to disperse the protestors with teargas and a cane-charge.

The trouble started when a VMC squad began demolishing the dargah, which authorities said was encroaching on government land.

Residents of the area began shouting slogans and then attacked officials involved in the demolition, Vadodara city police commissioner Deepak Swarup said.

"Police have intensified patrolling apart from clamping curfew in all the sensitive areas and the situation is presently under control," Swarup said.

The complete walled city area has been placed under curfew, police said.

Violence, including heavy stone-pelting, was also reported from Macchipith and Nyay Mandir areas. Police lobbed tear gas to control the crowd in the Nyay Mandir area, officials said.