Attackers used women and children as a shield, shot dead an SP and an SHO during an eviction drive; 320 held
Mathura: Twenty-four people, including an SP and an SHO, were killed in yesterday’s massive clash between police and members of a cult sect who had encroached on government land here, even as tension prevailed in the area with police seizing a large cache of ammunition from the site and arresting 320 people. The clash broke out on Thursday evening when police were trying to evict illegal occupants of a plot in Jawahar Bagh on the directions of the Allahabad High Court.
Several huts caught fire during the clash between police and encroachers from Jawahar Bagh on Thursday. Pics/AFP and PTI
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While the two policemen were shot dead, 11 others were burnt to death due to cylinder blasts. The rest succumbed to the injuries sustained during the violence. The encroachers set their huts on fires where bombs, explosives and gas cylinders were stored, before retreating from the site. Sources also claimed that the protestors used children and women as a shield before launching the all-out assault on the cops.
Cops carry an injured personnel to safety
A probe has been ordered by the divisional commissioner of Mathura into the violence at Jawahar Bagh where nearly 3,000 people had illegally set up camp on an over 260-acre plot for the last two years. Meanwhile, the Centre sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government on the incident, while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Yadav and assured the state government of all necessary help.
DGP Javed Ahmed (right), along with other officers, take part in SHO Santosh Kumar Yadav’s funeral procession
According to Director General of Police Javed Ahmed, there was ‘unprovoked’ firing by encroachers, who pelted stones and attacked the policemen with lathis as they arrived at the site for a recce to carry out the eviction, leading to the death of Superintendent of Police (SP) Mukul Dwivedi and Station House Officer (SHO), Farah, Santosh Yadav.
Police display the arms recovered from Jawarhar Bagh
“The leaders of the sect Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi — Ram Vraksha Yadav, Chandan Gaur, Rakesh Gupta and others will be booked under the NSA Act,” Ahmed told during a press conference.
Meanwhile, district Chief Medical Officer Vivek Mishra said the two policemen were killed in the firing by the encroachers.
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