LUCKNOW, India, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Police placed a northern Indian town under curfew on Tuesday after a drunken scuffle between two wedding guests snowballed into communal riots in which two people died.

Trouble began on Saturday night after two drunken youths clashed at a Hindu wedding party in Gorakhpur. One pulled a gun, but misfired into a nearby group of Muslims, injuring one man and enraging the rest, according to police.

One person, a school worker in his 30s, was killed in the brawl that followed.

The Hindu-Muslim riots quickly spread across the Uttar Pradesh state town, and many buildings and vehicles had been torched by the time the authorities ordered a curfew on Sunday.

Another man was shot dead on Monday night after police relaxed the curfew, police said.

The state government ordered schools, shops and businesses to close on Tuesday in most of the town, and suspended six local officials for dereliction of duty, including a district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police.

S.K. Bhagat, the new senior superintendent of police flown in from the state capital, Lucknow, told Reuters the situation was now under control.

"We cannot take any chances," he added, "so we are going to be extremely tough."

With state-level elections due shortly, the communal trouble could have far-reaching political impact in India's most populous state, where votes tend to be cast along religious and caste-based lines.

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