Mumbai, July 13: Curfew was clamped in parts of Nagpur as the death toll following the desecration of Dr Ambedkar's bust here rose to 13 on Sunday with sporadic incidents of violence reported in Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra.

In suburban Chembur, a policeman was injured in stone pelting after the funeral of victims of Friday's police firing. Incidents of stone throwing were also reported from two areas of the metropolis and Nashik, Nanded and Solapur districts which observed a spontaneous bandh.

Curfew was imposed in Jaripatka and Panchpaoli areas of Nagpur where two persons were killed in police firing. Even as life started limping back to normal in the city with local trains and public transport plying, official residences of opposition leaders in south Mumbai were ransacked by an unruly mob. Nobody was injured. Police rushed to the scene and brought the situation under control.

Leader of opposition in state assembly Madhukar Pichad said that his house and that of his counterpart in council, Chhagan Bhujbal were attacked by `Shiv Sainiks who were protesting against the opposition demand for dismissal of the Sena-Bjp government'.

Meanwhile, the government machinery was gearing up to tackle the opposition sponsored statewide bandh, excluding Mumbai, tomorrow. In a related incident, the Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athavale was assaulted by an irate mob in Ramabai nagar, the venue of firing, for turning up at the site two days after the tragedy.

In Nashik, miscreants torched a state transport bus at Nehru Nagar and damaged 14 other buses in other parts. Two persons, including a policeman, were injured in stone-pelting incidents which marred the spontaneous bandh in the city and nearby Igatpuri. Fifty RPI activists were held in Igatpuri, Malegaon and Peinth towns. Near total bandh was also observed in Parli Vaijnath, Solapur, Kolhapur and Nanded where incidents of stone pelting were reported. The situation in Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar in the city was `tense' but under control. The bodies of ten persons, who were killed in police firing were cremated. As many as 15,000 persons joined the funeral procession.

Meanwhile, a Mumbai regional congress committee (MRCC) delegation, led by its president Murli Deora, met the maharashtra governor Dr PC Alexander, to register its protest against the attack on the residences of the Congress leaders.

Deora said that the attack might have been `engineered' by the ruling party which showed its frustration in handling the affairs of the government. Such acts were against the democratic norms, he added.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.