Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called the recent incidents of violence in Saharanpur a “well-planned conspiracy” as the city slowly limped back to normalcy.
Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry, which yesterday despatched 400 riot-control policemen to Saharanpur, had sough a detailed report from he UP government into the recent violence that claimed a few lives and rendered several others injured.
Whle calling the string of violence in the western Uttar Pradesh district a “well-planned conspiracy” UP CM also expressed hope that a new team of district officers would be able to restore normalcy within 24 hours.
The Yogi Adityanath government had on Wednesday blamed Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party for fomnting tension in the city.
BSP’s Mayawati was denied permission to visit Shabbirpur, a village where clashes between Dalits and Thakurs took place earlier this month which led to the death of one person from the backward community.
On Thursday, the state government said Chandrashekhar Azad associated to a local Dalit outfit Bhim Sena would be arrested soon.
UP Home Secretary Mani Parsad Mishra said clashes had been reported off and on in Saharanpur over the past few years.
However, he conceded that the incidents had not attained the magnitude witnessed over the last month, beginning from April 20.
With a new team in place, the home secretary expressed the situation was likely to become normal within 24 hours.
The home secretary’s visit comes against the backdrop of criticism that the Yogi Adityanath government, which came to power on the plank of improving the law and order situation in the state in March, hadn’t been able to deliver on this promise.
“Four companies (about 400 personnel) of the Rapid Action Force have been sent to Saharanpur… following a request of the Uttar Pradesh government,” a PTI report said, quoting Home Ministry spokesperson Ashok Prasad.
The central forces were sent after an initial report to the MHA detailed two deaths and injuries to 40 people in clashes.
The first death took place on 5 May when 15 people were also injured. The second death took place on Tuesday when one person was shot and two others injured in clashes. In between, on May 9, about 12 police vehicles were set ablaze and 12 policemen injured.
In all, Union Home Ministry officials said over 40 people have been arrested for the violence.In Saharanpur, however, there were hints that the police may have been less than fair.
Mishra, who met people in one of the affected areas of the district, Shabbirpur, said he had come across cases in which an 80-year-old man or a 14-year-old had been made an accused. The top official vowed to ensure that those responsible for the violence would not be spared but made it a point to stress that “no innocent will be made an scapegoat” either.
Bureau Report
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