One person was killed in police firing in Secunderabad, the first casualty of protests against the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme that raged through several states for the third day on Friday with trains torched, public property vandalised and many thousands blocking tracks and highways.

At least 200 trains were affected, 35 cancelled and 13 short-terminated, railway officials said. As angry crowds, some armed with brickbats and stones, fanned out across large parts of India, from Uttar Pradesh to Telangana and Bihar to Madhya Pradesh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Army chief Gen Manoj Pande were among those who stepped in to assuage concerns.