Three top VHP leaders of Gujarat were grilled by Gandhnagar police for sending defamatory mobile messages in the name of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his government.

They are State general secretary Kaushik Mehta, Rajesh Shastri and Jagdish Dwivedi. They were grilled for over three hours.

Ashwin Patel is already in police custody. He was arrested on October 27. Police investigations revealed that the messages were sent from his mobile number.

"It was an attempt by the Modi government to harass the VHP leaders and humiliate Hindus," said Mehta after appearing before the police.

But the police denied such allegations saying that there was no question of anyone being harassed.

At least 17 workers were killed and dozens injured when a mound of earth collapsed on them.

The incident happened in Sukinda mining area of Jajpur district while they were extracting laterite from a quarry.

"A group of workers had gone to a quarry to extract laterite in a mining area located under Sukinda police station. A portion of the quarry suddenly collapsed on them," District Superintendent of Police D.S. Kutey said.

The exact number of workers at the open laterite mine in Jajpur district, about 150 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, was not known, Kuttey said.

The district administration fears that there could be two or three more people stuck under the debris.