Rourkela, Apr 15: Rajgangpur town, hit by communal trouble on Friday last, continued to simmer as the VHP and Bajrang Dal called a two-day bandh from today in support of their demand for a judicial inquiry into the incident. Most shops and business establishments in the town, 50 km from here, continued to keep their shutters down for the fourth day today as tense situation prevailed in the area. No untoward incident, however, had been reported so far.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who returned from Delhi, told reporters at Bhubaneswar that he was awaiting reports from the Sundargarh district administration on the incident.
Asked about the demand for a judicial probe into the incident leading to police firing in which two persons were killed, Patnaik said he had an open mind about the matter.


The government will take appropriate action, he said.


Prohibitory orders under section 144 CRPC continued to be in force in the cement town though it was relaxed for two hours last evening when the Hanuman idol taken out during Friday's Ramnavami procession was immersed in a tank by some people in the presence of police, official sources said.


Union tribal affairs minister, Jual Oram, who was in the town yesterday visited the family of a person killed in police firing.


Besides the judicial inquiry, the VHP and Bajrang Dal have also demanded release of the 17 people arrested in connection with the incident, arrest of the culprit and five time hike in the compensation amount of Rs one lakh announced for the next of kin of the dead and Rs 10,000 for the injured. Bureau Report