A change in the procession route, which directed revellers away from Madina Masjid -- the site of communal troubles during Ganpati immersions over the past three years -- and police insistence that it be honoured triggered the clashes.

Most of the 35 civilians wounded received bullet injuries, while 14 policemen were injured in stone-pelting. A furious mob also burnt down the residence and car of Limbayat councillor Ravindra Patil -- the area president of the Surat Shahar Ganeshotsava Samiti -- accusing him of changing the route. Patil, who was injured in the attack, could not be traced till late in the evening.

The mob also attacked and injured another Limbayat councillor Murlidhar Chintamani Patil, who has beenadmitted to hospital.

Though 56 large mandals had been given permits to pass through the Madina Masjid area, trouble broke out when smaller mandals started directing their processions through the sensitive area around noon. The police personnel present as part of the bandobast objected; the crowds protested and began pelting stones on the police.

Eyewitnesses said the police initially fired in the air to control the crowd, and then aimed directly at the people. It appeared to have effect for some time, but then mobs retaliated by pelting the police with stones, burning down vehicles and ransacking huts in the slum settlement of Sanjaynagar.

The stone-pelting continued for another three hours, while the police fired a number of shots through 303 rifles and burst teargas shells.

Until evening, the New Civil Hospital had received six bodies, all of whom had received bullet injuries in the chest, abdomen and head. Another 34 people were admitted to the hospital with bullet injuries; the condition of fiveis critical. Fifteen people were released after first-aid.

The six dead have been identified as Chhedilal Khiladi Jaiswal (25), Mangesh Govind Patil (21), Vasant Vaman Chitte (21), Bapu Baburao Jagtap, Chandu Manga (24) and Janardhan (26), all residents of Sanjaynagar and its surrounding areas in Limbayat.