Pastor’s killing: Amarinder orders crackdown on communal forces
CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday took a strong note of the killing of a pastor in Ludhiana and ordered the police to act against those trying to incite communal passions in the state.
He asked Punjab DGP Suresh Arora that the police and intelligence in the state to co-ordinate with each other to ensure prevention of recurrence of such incidents in the future, an official spokesperson said.
The DGP has been directed take all possible steps to ensure law and order is maintained in the state and the communal harmony is not disrupted.
Attempts to vitiate the state's environment would not be tolerated at any cost, Amarinder said today, warning of strict action against any police officer found guilty of dereliction of duty in this connection.
Given the sensitivity of the incident in which pastor Sultan Masih was shot dead by two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants, the chief minister has asked the police to closely monitor the situation to prevent any fallout, the spokesman said. He also asked the police to coordinate with local Christian leaders for support in defusing the situation resulting from the killing.
Masih was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants at Salem Tabri locality in Ludhiana late last night.
Amarinder pointed out that he had already taken up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the matter of expediting CBI probes into cases of other targeted killings, including of RSS, Hindu and Shiv Sena leaders in the past.
During the meeting with Modi in Delhi last on July 11, Amarinder had requested central intelligence and investigation agencies assistance in solving these cases.
In August last year, senior RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja was shot at in Jalandhar by unidentified assailants, he died at a hospital a month later.
In April this year, Punjab RSS chief Brij Bhushan Singh Bedi had demanded that the state government ask the CBI to expedite its probe into Gagneja's killing. NAGPUR: The Nagpur Rural Police have arrested Salim Shaha, a BJP worker who was allegedly beaten up by cow vigilantes earlier this week, under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act for possession of beef.
Shaha was beaten up by some people on July 12 on the suspicion that he was carrying beef. Police had said on Saturday that as per the forensic laboratory report, the meat which he was carrying that day was beef.
Superintendent of police (Nagpur Rural) Shailesh Balkawde said on Sunday that Shaha was arrested on Saturday night, and produced before Narkhed magistrate's court in the district today which sent him in police custody for one day. Police will ask for extension of his custody on Monday, the SP said, adding that a case has been registered at Jalalkheda Police Station.
Shaha (34), a resident of Katol town in Nagpur district, was returning home on his motorcycle when a group of five or six men accosted him at a bus stop in the Bharsingi village on July 12. They allegedly assaulted him on the suspicion that he was carrying beef.
Shaha's family, however, said he may not have known what he was carrying. The family was initially reluctant to talk about the forensic report, stating that it was already "in trouble". MANGALURU: Prohibitory orders were on Sunday clamped in the city limits till July 30 in the wake of recent incidents of communal unrest in parts of Dakshina Kannada district. In a related development, head of a local mutt has been asked to appear before police in connection with his claims that he had "vital leads" on the murder of an RSS worker in nearby Bantwal, police said at the district headquarters here.
Prohibitory orders under section 35 of the Karnataka Police Act 1963 will be in force from 6 am on Sunday till the midnight of July 30, an official release quoting Mangaluru Police Commissioner T R Suresh said. All acts of public utterance of cries, singing of songs, playing of music, use of gestures, exhibition or dissemination of objects such as placards and pictures which may affect public order would stand prohibited. The measure had been undertaken to avoid recurrence of unwarranted incidents having potential of disturbing peace in the society, the release said.
Four other taluks of the district, including Bantwal, are under the prohibitory orders as per Section 144 of CRPC for the past several weeks in view of the unrest.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah had on July 10 directed the police to arrest those disrupting communal harmony in the district.
His directives came following a spate of stabbing incidents, including that of RSS worker Sarath Madivala by unidentified persons on July 4. The victim died on July 7.
A 24-year old man, claimed to be a right-wing sympathiser, was attacked by some people at Kuthar near here on July 8.
Earlier, murder of a Social Democratic Party of India worker at Benjanapadavu in Bantwal on June 21 escalated the tension, forcing authorities to extend the ban orders which were first imposed on May 27 following skirmishes between two groups.
Meanwhile, police have issued a notice to honorary president of Hindu Samrakshana Samiti, Sri Rajasekharananda Swami, asking him to appear before investigation officer at Bantwal police station on Monday. The swami, who is chief of Gurpur Vajradehi Mutt, had told a press meet here on July 14 that he had exclusive information about the conspiracy and other details about the murder of Madiwala. He had also said that he would reveal it only if the National Investigation Agency took up the case.