The Karnataka government has suspended another senior police official in connection with the alleged assault and stripping of a Tanzanian woman student here, even as African students staged a rally over the incident today. Assistant Commissioner of Police A N Pise of Yeshwanthpur Division has been suspended for dereliction of duty, Police Commissioner N S Megharikh said, a day after a team of Tanzanian High Commissioner John W H Kijazi, also the Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps, and External Affairs Ministry officials flew in here and met state officials and African students.

With this, six policemen-an ACP, an Inspector and four constables-- have been suspended, Megharikh said.

On a mission to get a first hand account and build confidence among African students here, the Tanzanian envoy had backed the steps taken by the government in connection with the incident on Sunday.

"We are very much impressed with the action already taken," Kijazi had said, dismissing the talk about racism.

Nine persons have been arrested in connection with the incident in which the 21-year old Tanzanian student faced mob fury in vigilante justice after a Sudanese driving a car in an alleged drunken state struck a couple, killing a woman on the spot.

Police have maintained it was a case of "mistaken identity" and racism was not involved.