One killed in Bombay bandh

One killed, 28 instances of stone throwing reported, 485 arrested -- all this in course of the one day bandh called by Opposition parties in Bombay to protest the death, Friday, of 10 people and the injuries to 67others in police firing.

The lone victim of the bandh today, which brought the metropolis to a total halt, was Hitesh Bhalerao (22) who died when police opened fire on a rioting mob in the eastern suburb of Kurla.

From early morning, thousands of Republican Party of India supporters came out on the streets to block roads and stop traffic. Stone pelting, and one instance of a motorman being assaulted, brought train traffic also to a halt on the central, western and harbour lines.

Over 30 Bombay Electrical Supply Transport buses, 14 cars and four private buses were damaged in the rioting.

Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, who holds the home portfolio, admitted that the bandh was total, and had paralysed normal life. Munde also said that the bandh had impacted on other parts of the state.

"Nagpur witnessed 75 per cent bandh, while in places like Amravati, Purna and Akola police had to open fire in order to control rioting mobs," he told the media, adding that he had no report of casualities from those places.

Responding to a question, Munde said he did not see any need for himself, or the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state, to resign over the issue of police firing. "The police fired to protect the LPG tankers and to contain a possible conflagration," he argued.

The two ruling parties, the Shiv Sena and the BJP, did not join the bandh.

In all of Maharashtra, 54 places witnessed a rasta roko, and 303 people were arrested since morning. Earlier, the state police carried out 2,036 preventive arrests.

Thus far, however, no arrests have been made in Friday's incident, when the garlanding with chappals of a Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar statue had sparked the trouble in the first instance.

Meanwhile, early this morning, Railways Minister Ram Vilas Paswan visited Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, where police firing on Friday had accounted for 10 deaths.

The situation in the state remains tense, and as part of the effort to maintain law and order, 75 additional units of the State Reserve Police have been deployed in the state.