AHMEDABAD: Three people were killed and at least five others injured in police firing in Radhanpur town, close to the Pakistan border in Patan district, of north Gujarat on Tuesday.

The police claimed the firing was resorted to after a section of the people attacked the police which was present to provide protection to the government staff gone there to demolish a part of the wall of a burial ground to drain out accumulated rain water in some housing colonies.

The local residents said they had objected to the demolition to drain out the "dirty water" into the area where their near and dear ones lay buried. They claimed that damaging the burial ground was not necessary since alternative facilities were available for the purpose.

A Congress delegation sent by the Pradesh Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki, to visit the spot, claimed that it was a deliberate move by the local Bharatiya Janata Party member of the State Assembly Shankar Chaudhary against whom some cases were still pending for his alleged involvement in the 2002 communal riots.

A Congress spokesman said that at the instance of the BJP government in the State the local officials, with adequate police force, had insisted on demolishing the wall even though the Gujarat High Court had earlier issued orders against any such demolition.

He said a storm water drainage system was installed at a cost of Rs. 20 lakh to drain out the rain water from the housing societies in the locality and draining out the water into the burial ground was not necessary.

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