Bareilly: Two alleged gamblers drowned in a river while trying to flee from police at Chawni area in this district today following which irate locals resorted to arson and threw stones at local police station.
Some people were allegedly engaged in gambling this evening when some police personnel in civil dress reached the spot and chased them, police said.
Three of the youths jumped into a river to escape. Later, the bodies of two of them –Dinesh (18) and Satish (19)– were recovered but the third person could not be traced, they said.
The villagers said that gambling on Diwali night was a custom, but the police was trying to extort money which led to the death of two people.
Following the incident, locals threw stones at local police station and set some motorcycles in the compound on fire, police said.
Upon receiving the information, a number of top police officers reached the spot to bring the situation under control.
Section 144 was imposed and Rapid Action Force was deployed in the area to prevent any further untowards incident, they said.
Deputy Inspector General R K S Rathore said that the situation was under control and investigation was underway.