MUMBAI, July 14: Despite Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde's claim that the RPI-sponsored Maharashtra bandh was by and large peaceful, a 61-year-old person was killed in group clashes.

Meanwhile, Munde said that a record number of 9,939 persons were arrested in different parts of the State.

At Hingoli in Parbhani district, a violent mob set fire to the post office, while two persons were injured in police firing at Karanja in Wardha district. At Dombivli in Thane district and Buldhana, the police arrested several activists of the Akhil Bhartiya Sena sponsored by Arun Gawli.

``All these persons were wanted by the police as criminal cases were pending against them,'' Munde added. Tension prevailed in many parts of Nagpur where as many as 32 incidents of stone throwing and 17 incidents of road blockades were reported till afternoon.

Police fired shots in air to disperse clashing groups at Sarfabad in Amravati district, where 15 were injured.

The bandh evoked near total response in Nagpur, Dhule and many cities in Vidarbha including Jalna, Wardha, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli and partial response in Pune, Pimpri Chinchawad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurga, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Satara, Kolhapur, Solapur, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Nashik.

Though Mumbai was excluded from the bandh, angry mobs indulged in heavy stone throwing on trains at Thane, Mulund, Bhandup and Kanjur Marg, forcing the Central Railway authorities to suspend the suburban services from 0840 hrs. In Ahmedabad, different Dalit organisations in the State have given a call for Gujarat bandh on Wednesday in protest against the killing of 11 people in police firing in Mumbai and desecration of Dr B R Ambedkar's statue.

The bandh call is supported by the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Party. Gujarat Chief Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela today held a meeting with the Congress and Dalit leaders to ensure that the bandh would be peaceful and orderly.

The meeting condemned the Mumbai incident. Meanwhile, security has been stepped up at all sensitive places in the State to thwart any untoward incident.

In Nashik, vandalism continued unabated for the second consecutive day today, paralysing normal life in Nashik, during the Opposition sponsored statewide bandh.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.