Police had fired only rubber bullets to disperse a mob protesting against the construction of a thermal power plant in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P Sabita Reddy said on Tuesday.

About 700 villagers (who were opposing the construction of the power plant) armed with sticks and rods surrounded the policemen at H N Peta (near Kakarapalli) and burnt a police vehicle and damaged another one, she said.

Police had warned the mob to disperse but in vain, the minister said, adding that policemen on seeing the menacing crowd initially resorted to lathi-charge and fired pellets. Later, the police fired rubber bullets in which Jeeru Nageswara Rao died at the site while another person identified as Seerapu Yerraiah, who had received an injury on forearm, died at his home, she said.

Police fired 34 plastic pellets and 17 rubber bullets on the agitators which also left five agitators injured, the minister said. Ten policemen also got hurt during stone pelting.

The East Coast Energy Pvt Ltd which is setting up the 2,640 MW coal-based thermal power plant at Kakarapalli village in Srikakulam district had obtained requisite permissions from the central and state government for the proposed plant, she said.

DIG (Visakhapatnam Range) Soumya Mishra and Srikakulam SP K V V Gopal Rao have visited the scene of incident and are closely monitoring the situation, the minister added.

DGP K Aravinda Rao had on Monday said that the police fired only rubber bullets, but that resulted in casualties as police fired from a close range.

Meanwhile, a bandh in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district called to condemn police-firing in which two persons were killed evoked mixed response today.

“The situation in Srikakulam district and in and around the under construction power plant site in Kakarapalli and adjoining villages is peaceful and normal after yesterday’s incident, even though, a bandh is being observed in the district,” Srikakulam district Superintendent of Police K V V Gopala Rao told a news agency over the phone.