10-19-2005, 10:10 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Indian police seek lawmaker over religious riots</b>
LUCKNOW, India, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Indian police are hunting a lawmaker and ally of a state chief minister for murder after Hindu-Muslim violence killed at least seven people in some of the worst recent communal bloodshed.
Police say Uttar Pradesh state independent legislator <b>Mukhtar Ansari triggered several days of violence last week by shooting at a Hindu religious procession, killing one man.</b>
"The violence ... subsequently spread like wildfire," a state official said on Wednesday. Dozens were injured in the clashes in the town of Mau, near the holy city of Varanasi, prompting authorities to impose a curfew and shoot-on-site orders. Ansari supports Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's alliance in the state assembly, but Yadav ordered police to act.
<b>"He should be taken into custody any time,"</b> state home office chief Alok Sinha said, adding the situation in Mau was "fast returning to normal".
..................
Many Indian politicians face such serious charges -- and disqualification from office if convicted -- but often avoid a trial for years. Many times, cases are dropped because witnesses disappear or change their testimony.
Although the police have so far failed to find Ansari, he is in regular contact with journalists and says he is innocent.
<b>"I am being framed by my political rivals," he told Reuters by phone</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
LUCKNOW, India, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Indian police are hunting a lawmaker and ally of a state chief minister for murder after Hindu-Muslim violence killed at least seven people in some of the worst recent communal bloodshed.
Police say Uttar Pradesh state independent legislator <b>Mukhtar Ansari triggered several days of violence last week by shooting at a Hindu religious procession, killing one man.</b>
"The violence ... subsequently spread like wildfire," a state official said on Wednesday. Dozens were injured in the clashes in the town of Mau, near the holy city of Varanasi, prompting authorities to impose a curfew and shoot-on-site orders. Ansari supports Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's alliance in the state assembly, but Yadav ordered police to act.
<b>"He should be taken into custody any time,"</b> state home office chief Alok Sinha said, adding the situation in Mau was "fast returning to normal".
..................
Many Indian politicians face such serious charges -- and disqualification from office if convicted -- but often avoid a trial for years. Many times, cases are dropped because witnesses disappear or change their testimony.
Although the police have so far failed to find Ansari, he is in regular contact with journalists and says he is innocent.
<b>"I am being framed by my political rivals," he told Reuters by phone</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->