UP: Toll in communal violence rises to 2

With one person succumbing to gunshot wounds sustained in Sunday's sectarian clash, the toll on account of violence in Lucknow and Kanpur rose to two on Monday.

The victim was shot by a stray bullet in the ruckus that followed denial of passage by local Shias to a Sunni procession as a part of the Barawafat festival, which marks the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad.

Twenty-seven persons were arrested in connection with the rioting that spread to some parts of the old city.

Curfew was clamped on Sunday night in two police circles covering several Muslim dominated localities, where tension between Shias and Sunnis has, often in the past, led to major violence.

"We will continue the curfew through the day as a precautionary measure as people are still out to make trouble," district magistrate Ramendra Tripathi told this reporter. "But we are well-equipped to handle any situation and directives have been issued to deal with troublemakers with a firm hand."

Meanwhile, the situation was fast returning to normal in the other violence-affected town, Kanpur, where an unruly mob's attack on a police station provoked police firing, leaving one dead on Sunday.

According to Kanpur deputy inspector general of police Daljeet Chaudhary, 'everything is well under control but we are maintaining a strict round-the-clock vigil to ensure that there was no recurrence of violence'.