Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil appealed for peace in Malegaon, which witnessed mob violence in the aftermath of a blast on Monday night.
"Over 20,000 people gathered at the spot where the blast took place. We have rushed State Reserve Police Force personnel to Malegaon," Patil, who also holds the Home portfolio, told reporters.
"At this moment it is difficult to say whether the blast was an accident or a deliberate ploy to create panic," Patil said, adding an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team has also rushed to the spot in north Maharashtra.
R R Patil was mobbed by angry residents when he went to visit Malegaon.
Under siege, the minister had to escape the mob's fury. Residents of Malegaon are angry not just because of Monday's bomb blast which took three lives, but also because the police fired in the air to contain the mob. All in all 70 people were injured in the melee.
Four persons were killed and more than 70 others injured in the blast in the busy Bhikhu Chowk, police sources said.
Six policemen, including Additional Superintendent of Police Viresh Prabhu, were injured in stone-pelting by a mob soon after the blast, they said. Two other persons were also injured in the stone-pelting.
The blast created panic in the communally sensitive powerloom town in Nashik district, police said
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