Pune farmers' deaths: Six policemen suspended

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Six policemen were suspended on Thursday for firing on a farmers' rally in Pune district which left at least three people dead two days earlier.

"Six policemen have been suspended and an inquiry initiated against their alleged role in the firing," Superintendent of Police (Pune) Sandeep Karnik said.

The suspended policemen are M.A. Wadge, S.S. Gengje, J.H. Korde, R.B. Bhagwat, V.B. Nagre and M.M. Zankar.

The incident continued to rock the Maharashtra legislature for the third day in a row on Thursday, as the opposition created a ruckus and demanded the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and state Home Minister R.R. Patil.

At the receiving end of the opposition's ire, Maharashtra's Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance government on Wednesday ordered an inquiry by a retired high court judge into the police firing.

At least three people were killed Tuesday in Bahuri village in Pune district when police opened fire at thousands of farmers who blocked highways and turned violent to protest government takeover of their lands for laying a drinking water pipeline from Pavna Dam to the outskirts of Pune city.

At least eight farmers and 35 police personnel were injured in the violence and protests that paralysed the old Mumbai-Pune highway and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.