HYDERABAD, India: Dec 27, Reuter: Security forces imposed curfews on 20 towns in Southern India on Tuesday after at least 25 people were killed in riots which broke out following the murder of a local politician.
The Andhra Pradesh State government reported few fresh incidents in Vijayawada where the politician and two companions were axed to death on Monday.
But the Press Trust of India News Agency said many people defied security forces with shoot-to-kill orders to loot shops and set fire to buildings and buses.
As disturbances spread to neighboring areas of coastal Andhra Pradesh, a curfew due to be lifted in Vijayawada on Tuesday morning was widened to cover 19 other towns and extended until Thursday morning.
State Home (Interior) Minister K, Siva Prasada Rao told journalists 25 people had been killed in the rioting, but unofficial reports put the death toll at 28.
Army and paramilitary police reinforcements have been sent to the region, but a PTI correspondent in Vijayawada reported that rioters were moving freely through the streets.
The violence was sparked by the murder of State Assembly Member Mohana Ranga Rao who was attacked at a camp near his home where he had been on hunger strike for four days in protest at alleged police harassment.
He was a member of the Congress (I) party that rules India nationally but is in opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
Prasada Rao said police were searching for a state legislator belonging to the ruling Telegu Desam party in connection with the killing.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 30, 1988
