Union minister’s son, 500 others booked for role in Bhagalpur riots
Bihar’s Bhagalpur police have lodged a case against Arjit Shashwat, son of Union minister of state Ashwini Kumar Choubey, for inciting BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal workers and triggering communal clashes in Bhagalpur town on Saturday.
Shashwat had led a procession organised by the Bharatiya Navvarsh Jagran Samiti on the eve of the Hindu New Year. The procession passed through a 15-km route, which included at least half-a-dozen Muslim-dominated areas. The clashes occurred in Medini Chowk under Nathnagar police station, a Muslim-dominated area.
Though there were no casualties, several people, including policemen, were injured when the rioters from two communities resorted to vandalism and brickbatting.
The situation returned to normalcy after the government deployed a company of Rapid Action Force (RAF) and the Central Para Military Force (CPMF) besides discontinuing internet services to check rumours.
Following instructions from the government, the police headquarters carried out a probe that found among others, Shashwat one of the prime accused of triggering the communal clash.
Police said Shashwat has been booked for taking out a procession without permission, inciting communal sentiment and roaming on road displaying arms. “A sub-inspector, Hari Kishore Singh, who was witness to the development, has lodged the FIR,” a senior police officer in Patna said.
Denying the allegations, Shashwat, who unsuccessfully fought the last assembly elections as the BJP candidate from Bhagalpur, said in Bhagalpur on Sunday that Hindus irrespective of party affiliations had taken out a motorcycle procession that came under heavy stone pelting at Nathnagar. “The police jeep was moving ahead of me. You can check video clips of the incident to confirm what I am saying,” he told a local newspaper.
His father, a parliamentarian from Buxar said, “It’s not a crime to say Vande Matram, Jai Shree Ram and Jai Hind. The allegations that no permission was taken from the administration to take out the procession to mark the Hindu New Year is false. If there was no police permission, why didn’t the administration stop it before it begun? The administration is trying to escape from its responsibility and punish the culprits who resorted to vandalism and brick batting,” Choubey, a firebrand BJP leader known for this controversial statements, said.
Police said two separate FIRs have been lodged in connection with the riot. While Shashwat is an accused along with eight others in one FIR, in the other FIR police have booked 20 known Muslim and Yadav leaders besides 500 unknown people for taking law into their hands. “Both sides not only engaged themselves in arson and brickbatting but also exchanged gunfire. They rioters ran amok and burnt shops, motorcycles in market places,” Nathnagar SHO, Md Jainuddin said.
A senior police officer preferring not to be quoted said that the Bhagalpur SSP office had received a letter informing about the procession barely two hours before it began.
The letter didn’t carry details of the route and number of people participating in it, he said. The officer said majority of policemen of the district that day were deployed at Vikramsheela Mahotsav, a state sponsored program organized during spring season.
“We haven’t arrested anyone so far,” said Bhagalpur SSP Manoj Kumar.
He said the priority was to ensure peace and normalcy returned to the town. “Once we start identifying all accused, we will start arresting them,” he added.
Bhagalpur is one of the most communally sensitive places in the country. In 1989, the town witnessed one of the worst riots in which more than 1000 people were killed.
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