14 held, 300 booked for violence over procession route
Day after violence, troublemakers are being identified through video recordings, says police
KANPUR: The Hamirpur police on Wednesday arrested 14 persons and registered an FIR against 300 unidentified persons in connection with the violence that broke out on Tuesday after a mob tried to change the route of Kans Mela procession in Maudaha town.
Trouble-makers are being identified through video recordings, said the police. More than 10 policemen and seven protestors were injured in Tuesday’s violence.
ADG Allahabad zone SN Sabat said police officials marched across the town on Wednesday while measures were also taken to keep the situation under control. However, despite assurance from officials, markets remained closed.
Asked if the police were probing the alleged role of MP Hamirpur Pushpendra Chandel and former MP Ganga Charan Rajput, he said it was too early to comment. “We are identifying people and have enough video footage. The police will act on the basis of the facts,” he said.
Questions were raised after it came to the fore that BJP MP Pushpendra Singh Chandel reportedly asked the administration to allow the process to pass through the new route.
Chandel, however, said he believed in maintaining communal harmony and blamed the opposition for trying to vitiate the atmosphere. Blaming the district administration he said, “The people taking out the procession didn’t go ahead on Monday, then why were they stopped on Tuesday? This is not good for Maudaha, Hamirpur.”
Chandel also demanded the release of ‘innocent people’ arrested by the police from their houses.
The trouble began at Devi Chauraha on Monday night where the organisers and their supporters announced the procession would pass through Imambara Road this year.
The DM and the SP, who reached the site quickly, asked the organisers to take the original route. This result in a standoff and those insisting on the new route staged a dharna (sit-in) around midnight.
The administration deferred the decision till morning. The officials, however, again made it clear that a change in the route was not possible, angering the people who had gathered in large numbers.
As the day progressed, tension grew and the mob pelted police personnel with stones.