A mob ransacked a police station, set over six vehicles on fire and fought a pitched battle with cops barely 1km from the Taj Mahal after the law-enforcers were accused of inaction over an accident death on Thursday.

The angry residents damaged files and computers in the Taura police outpost in Agra and set ablaze over half a dozen vehicles, including four motorcycles, parked outside.
Television cameras showed cops lathicharging the mob and hurling tear smoke canisters. Policemen were also seen beating photojournalists covering the incident.

The protesters and the police hurled stones at each other.

Satish Ganesh, the inspector-general of Agra, said: “It was an unfortunate incident. People angry over the death of a youth in a road accident turned violent. Our priority is to convince the people that the police will not spare the guilty.”

“We are collecting CCTV footage to identify those who damaged public property. Action will be taken against them,” he added.

A protester said a tractor-trolley had hit a local youth, Pawan Yadav, on Fatehabad Road.

“Two policemen of Taura outpost came there on a motorcycle but turned away without saying anything even after seeing the youth lying in a pool of blood and the tractor-trolley standing a little distance away. This angered bystanders, who ran towards the tractor-trolley. The vehicle fell into a ditch while trying to get away and the driver fled. We took the injured to hospital, where he died within a few minutes,” the protester said, requesting anonymity.

“The youth lay injured on the road for about 45 minutes and could have been saved had the police rushed him to hospital. We were confused at that time and couldn’t decide whether we should wait for the police or not,” he added.