Mathura: BJP protests; DM, SSP transferred

Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party held demonstrations across UP to protest against the Mathura incident, and the Bahujan Samaj Party asked the Centre to take legal action against the state government, the Akhilesh Yadav government on Monday transferred Mathura’s district magistrate Rajesh Kumar and SSP Rakesh Singh for dereliction of duty.

The action came four days after Mathura erupted into flames following

SC to hear a PIL filed by BJP’s Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya for a CBI probe into the incidents on Tuesday

clashes between the police and squatters belonging to the Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah cult group at the Jawahar Bagh that left 29 dead, including the Mathura SP Mukul Dwivedi and an SHO. Sources said that the mounting Opposition attack on the state government had forced action against the two officials.

The BJP’s massive protests across UP — in Lucknow, Aligarh, Kanpur, Deoria, among others — highlighted the prevailing anarchy in the state and the deteriorating law and order situation with reference to the Mathura clashes. The party submitted memorandums to district magistrates, demanding a CBI inquiry into the clashes and a probe into the alleged involvement of Samajwadi leaders in the incident.

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on Tuesday a PIL filed by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya, BJP spokesperson, for a CBI probe into the Mathura violence in which 24 people were killed and several injured in clashes between the UP police and members of Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah.

A vacation bench of Justices P. C. Ghose and Amitav Roy listed the matter for hearing on a mention made by counsel for petitioner. Mr Upadhyay said what happened in Mathura could not have happened without the help of the Samajwadi Party government, which is destroying evidence of the incident. He said the CBI must take over the probe immediately to find out the root cause of the incident and the nexus among the Executive, Legislature and the extremist group.

The PIL said two police officers and 22 squatters were killed in an armed conflict at Jawahar Bagh in Mathura city on June 2. The squatters, an armed group, who were led by Ram Vriksh Yadav, once a follower of Jai Gurudev, had been occupying the site since 2014.

Ram Vriksh Yadav was running a parallel government, complete with administration, revenue and armed forces within the park. It is believed by local residents that Yadav

was very close to some of the ministers of the UP government which is why the local administration was unwilling to act against him.

After the high court ordered their eviction, the police tried to forcibly evict them. The squatters responded violently, killing two police officers.