Eleven persons have died and 20 were injured as a high voltage cable hit by police firing fell in Pangiri in Assam’s Tinsukia district.
The police were firing in the air to disperse a group of protesters, who, armed with machetes and sticks, were attacking them.
The protesters had gheraoed the police station, demanding that those arrested in connection with the murder of two persons in the area three days ago be handed over to them, the police said.
They threw stones and broke glass panes of the police station.
Police then fired in the air to control the mob and the bullets hit an overhead high tension electric wire, causing it to fall on the demonstrators.
Nine of them died on the spot and one died at Tinsukia Civil Hospital. Another person died on way to Assam Medical College Hospital in neighbouring Dibrugarh district.
Senior administration officials along with central paramilitary forces and police reinforcements have rushed to the spot.
The officials are holding meetings with the protestors in a bid to control the situation, the police said.
The murder took place three days ago. A family of three – a man, his son and daughter-in-law — had been abducted. While the young man managed to escape, the bodies of the two others were recovered later, the police said.
Five persons had been arrested in the case.
