Serious Idol Fans

INDIA'S version of American Idol has sparked violence when police clashed with supporters of the winner, leaving at least 30 people injured.

Officials said the army had been called in to maintain calm.

Prashant Tamang, an ethnic Nepali youth from the eastern state of West Bengal, beat Amit Paul from Meghalaya state, inflaming regional rivalries after a closely contested final round on Sunday.

The animosities subsided after the two contestants appealed for peace, but a radio station stoked further trouble by making inflammatory remarks about Tamang this week, angering ethnic Nepalese.

On Friday, thousands marched in West Bengal's Siliguri town to protest the remarks. The procession later turned violent, forcing police to fire tear gas shells and use batons.

A Reuters photographer was injured in the clashes.

"The situation is tense. We have placed the entire region under heavy security cover," Ravinder Jit Singh Nalwa, a senior police officer, said.
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