NAGPUR, 8 February 2007 — One person was killed and 14 suffered injuries when police opened fire to disperse an unruly crowd protesting power outages in Umred town, 45 kilometers from Nagpur. Following the incidents of violence and arson, the district administration imposed indefinite curfew.
According to a Nagpur police official, the trouble began when people participating in a rally against power outages became unruly and torched a police station and several police vehicles. The protesters also ransacked the house of a local legislator Rajendra Mulak and tried to set ablaze a sub-power station of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL). The situation, the official said, was brought under control.
Police initially tried to restrain the protesters by firing tear gas but had to open fire when the protesters became more violent. A protester, Yuvraj Kumbare, was killed and 14 people were injured. Two of the protesters suffered bullet injures in their abdomen and are in serious condition, while the others were slightly injured.
Violent protests were also reported from Amravati and Chandrapur districts. Saw mill workers in Amravati staged a rally during which one of the workers poured kerosene over his body and tried to burn himself. The police prevented the immolation bid and took the man into custody.
In Chandrapur, Shiv Sena party activists held a violent demonstration and ransacked the office of the MSEDCL chief engineer. Though the Shiv Sena claimed to have organized the rally, the participants consisted mostly of school and college students.
