Speaking on the altercations that took place in Mathura, Director General of Police (DGP) Javeed Ahmed on Friday said they would ensure the strictest action under law against the perpetrators in the Mathura incident and speedy prosecution of the accused.
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“After seeing the photograph, associates of Ram Virksha Yadav in jail, have confirmed that he had been killed”, Singh said when asked about the status of Yadav. But his junior minister, Kiren Rijiju, said the catastrophe was a “lapse” and the state government should investigate why it happened.
The incident has come as a setback to the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state, which braces for elections early next year and is already faced with charges of lawlessness in the state.
BJP president Amit Shah who was in Kanpur, demanded resignation of Cabinet Minister Shivpal Yadav, who is also uncle of the chief minister holding the latter indirectly responsible for the Mathura incident. 22 rioters were killed in the violence.
Police began the operation to clear the park in Mathura, 140 km (85 miles) southeast of the capital New Delhi, on Thursday after a court ordered about 3,000 people to vacate the area. “Unabated violence is a stark reminder of the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh”, he tweeted.
The leader of the Swadhin Bharat cult was known to be very short-tempered and ruthless, and reportedly ruled his illegally occupied 33-acre Jawahar Bagh fiefdom with an iron hand.
Yadav was the leader of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, a sect claiming allegiance to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Officials said some 80 people, including 30 policemen, were critically injured in the clashes and some 400 others have been arrested on charges of inciting violence, during which a cooking gas cylinder exploded, killing 11 people.
“Their ideology is similar to the Naxalites”, said divisional commissioner Pradeep Bhatnagar, who is the top civilian official for the area. “The Chief Minister has gone to Bundelkhand to accelerate development works and interact directly with the people”, he said. When they refused, police obtained a court order for eviction and on Thursday sent about 500 officers to force the squatters out.
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Slamming the programmes to celebrate two years of Modi government, she said the BJP-led dispensation had nothing to take credit for and was just tom-tomming its “hollow” programmes to mislead the people.
