MUMBAI, March 30: Four people died and several were injured in sectarian clashes in the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Saturday following unruly Holi celebrations, police said.

Police opened fire and imposed a curfew in Nagpur’s old city of Akola, around 300 kilometres west of Mumbai.

“The violence broke out after a mob pelted stones at a local mosque on Friday evening, which subsequently led to stabbing and arson between groups of people on Saturday,” a police official said.

“We are still to ascertain whether the injured had sustained wounds from police firing or due to their fighting,” he added.

“The situation in Akola is under control and the state reserve police has been called in there. There has been no untoward incident in any other part of the state,” Maharashtra state’s junior home minister Manikrao Thakre said.

The incident comes even as the adjacent state of Gujarat was still experiencing isolated incidents of sectarian violence after several days of anti-Muslim violence which killed around 700 people.

Hospital sources at Akola’s civil hospital said three of the four who died appeared to have succumbed to injuries from police firing, while one woman died from a deep stab wound.

“Around 15 people have been admitted to the hospital for treatment,” a hospital official said.—AFP