Police firing kills seven in Dausa, Army called in

Army was today called in following clashes and police firing during protests by the Gurjar community on the Jaipur-Agra highway in Dausa area of Rajasthan even as seven people were killed and several injured in the violence that also affected Karauli and Bundi.
In a bid to check the protests by the Gurjar action committee demanding that the community, which has been given OBC status, be shifted to the Scheduled Tribe category, the authorities called in the Army to check the protestors from blocking traffic on the highway.
Two police personnel were missing in Dausa while the collector of Bundi S S Bissa had sustained injuries in the violence, Rajsthan DGP A S Gill told PTI.
He said four persons were killed in Bundi district while three bodies were found from the national highway at Peelplikheda village, about 165 km from here, in Dausa and in neighbouring Karauli. He, however, didnot give any further details.
Six columns of the Army were rushed at around 1300 hrs from Jaipur to hold flag march on the National Highway near Dausa, State Home Secretary V S Singh said.
Army was also alerted in Alwar and Bharatpur areas to assist the civil administration following reports that the protestors dug up roads as part their 'chakka-jam' agitation.
A senior official said three bodies found in Gangapur city, Bayana and Mahua respectively in Dausa and neighbouring Karauli districts and four bodies in Bundi have been sent for post-mortem. Police lathicharged and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the violent crowd of Gurjars who were blocking the Jaipur-Agra highway at Peelplikheda village, about 165 kms from here, in Dausa before opening fire. Earlier, police and the protestors, who indulged in stone pelting, had fought a pitched battle.
State Home Secretary Singh said that the reports reaching here indicated that the situation turned for the worse when protestors attacked a police party Mahua village situated between Karauli and Dausa and set ablaze an ambulance. Besides Jaipur-Agra highway, the agitators had also obstructed highways at Bundi, Kota, Jaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur, and Jaipur-Bundi-Sawai Madhopur.