The Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel guarding the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex in Ayodhya went on a rampage on Wednesday evening.

The trouble started when a PAC constable died after falling from one of the watchtowers in the complex, officials said.

"Rajesh Kumar Tiwari was climbing the steel ladder to go atop the watchtower, when he slipped and fell. The officers on duty took him to hospital, where he was declared dead," Faizabad Divisional Commissioner R M Srivastava told rediff.com

Following his death, his colleagues went on a rampage, smashing shops, vehicles and beating up people, including some photojournalists, he said.

"The policemen even set afire the official car of the Deputy Inspector General of Police, K N D Dwivedi, who had gone there to pacify them," he added.

The din continued till personnel from a local unit of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Rapid Action Force took charge of the situation, Srivastava said.

"We are under full command of the situation."

Ayodhya has been sealed of from all sides, he added.

Unconfirmed reports said that the cops were angry due to the 'apathy of higher officials after they were apprised of the constable's death'. 

There are about 900 PAC men guarding the area. Another 500 are on temporary duty because of the navratra fair.

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What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 8 Sub: Cops go on rampage in Ayodya Such things reflect poorly on the Command Control excercised by officers cadre of these police forces. The IPS officers manning the higher echelons in such ... Posted by Lt Col G I Balakrishnan Sub: ayodhya rampage the govt should call off this farce...they aren't gonna find anything on the site anyway in favour of Hindus or Muslims. Why not build some ... Posted by sunil shetty Sub: Mera Bharat Mahaan Dear Sir, Whenever i read things like this my spontaneous response is,"Mera Bharat mahaan!" When there is indiscipline in our parliament how can there be ... Posted by DrGopalAgarwal Sub: Cops go on rampage Something seems to be missing in this report. Cops going on rampage just because a person fell down from some height and died? Was the ... Posted by Prakash Sub: Ayodhya rampage Sir, The incident is regretable and needs to be handled apolitically and professionally.When there is political corruption, the bureaucrates become self-server, that leads to the ... Posted by Hukmdalal