Violence flares up in Ghazipur again

Violence flared up in Ghazipur again as a shop in the town was torched and a group of people set ablaze a mosque in Birpur village even as security was tightened ahead of Bharatiya Janata Party President L K Advani's visit to slain party legislator Krishnanand Rai's ancestral village.

A group of around 40 people also pelted stones on houses of members of a particular community in Birpur village Monday evening, police said in Ghazipur on Tuesday. A shop was set ablaze in Chittnath area in the town Tuesday morning, sources said.

Security personnel have been rushed to the village to maintain law and order, they said adding police and Rapid Action Force personnel continued to patrol the streets of the town.

Schools and colleges remained closed as the administration geared up to tighten security ahead of the BJP President L K Advani's scheduled visit to slain party legislator Krishnanand Rai's ancestral village Gonaur.

Advani would also be addressing a public meeting at Mohammadabad, the assembly constituency of the slain BJP legislator, party sources in Ghazipur said. Elaborate security arrangements have been made in view of Advani's visit with traffic being banned on the roads leading to the venue of the meeting, they said.