Curfew imposed in Ranchi, cop injured during stone pelting

After a protesting mob turned violent in the wake of inflammatory remarks by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, curfew has been imposed in several areas of Ranchi amid the violence that lasted for nearly three hours.

More than two dozen people have been injured during stone pelting by the mob and police lathicharge.

Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police, Surendra Kumar Jha, who tried to pacify the angry mob, has also been injured in the stone pelting incident. He has been admitted to a private hospital for treatment.

After protesting against the statement made by Nupur Sharma, people hit the streets after observing the Friday prayers in a mosque.

To stop the angry mob, police fired several rounds of bullets and lathi-charged the protestors.

When police's efforts failed to quell the deteriorating situation from 2 to 5 p.m, the district administration imposed a curfew in the city.

Additional police force have been deployed to control the situation in the city.

The Rapid Action Force and a large number of police personnel have been deployed to control the situation on the Main Road, Karbala Chowk and Doranda.

Due to the uproar over Nupur Sharma's remarks, all the shops within a radius of about three kilometre on the Main Road were closed since Friday afternoon.

A large protest was also held in Doranda area of Ranchi.

On Friday, Muslims living in the city closed their shops demanding the arrest of BJP leaders Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal.

The main market in the city remained shut since Friday morning.

After observing Friday prayers at a mosque, thousands of people gathered on the main road raising slogans against the two BJP leaders.

As the mob started gathering on the Main Road, the police personnel tried to stop them but the protesters started pelting stones at the police and vandalised several bikes and vehicles parked on the roadside.