Ahmedabad: Gujarat's commercial capital Ahmedabad limped back to normalcy on March 2 but violence elsewhere continued with 35 people burnt alive in Mehsana and Vadodara keeping the communal cauldron boiling in the state where officials put the death toll in the last three days of frenzy at close to 300.

Unofficial estimates, however, have put the death figure around 400. The official figures went up with the recovery of more bodies from the debris of burnt houses and fresh killings on March 2.

It was reported that at least seven persons were burnt alive on the Dabhoit road as arson and violence continued unabated in several parts of the city and police had to open fire at a number of places to quell rioting mobs.

Ahmedabad, the worst hit by communal flare up in the wake of Godhra train killings, was virtually back to normal with no fresh case of violence reported as Army maintained strict vigil in sensitive areas.

Curfew was lifted from at least three police station areas following improvement in the situation, Police Commissioner P C Pande said.

Violence continued unabated in South, North and Central Gujarat and 47 places in the state remained under curfew.

In the latest incident of mob fury, 28 people, including 14 women and 4 children, were burnt alive by a mob of 10,000 people after locking them in their houses in Sardarpur village in Northern Mehsana district. In all 25 houses were set ablaze. Police, however, was able to rescue 300 people.

PTI