26 killed, 368 detained in Mathura

Akhilesh Yadav admits ‘some lapses’ by police

The temple town of Mathura, close to Agra, was on edge Friday with the death toll in Thursday’s clashes rising to 26, as the Centre stepped in and sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government. Over 368 people have been detained for the violence that claimed the lives of an SP and an SHO, among others.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday spoke to UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who has ordered an inquiry by the Agra divisional commissioner. Speaking in Barabanki on Friday, the chief minister admitted “some lapses” by the police in Mathura. “There were some lapses. The police should have gone with full preparation and after holding talks, but there was no information they had so much arms and ammunition,” he told reporters. Earlier, Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju had said in New Delhi there were “big lapses” on the part of the state government.

The chief minister also announced compensation of Rs 20 lakhs for the families of each of the slain police personnel.

The violence once again brought into focus the law and order situation in UP, with the BJP, Congress, BSP and others accusing the ruling Samajwadi Party government of unleashing “goonda raj” in the state.

The violence erupted as the police tried to evict illegal occupants, believed to be members of a “cult” calling itself Swadheen Bharat Andolan, from Jawahar Bagh in Mathura on Thursday on the directions of the Allahabad high court. The encroachers lobbed hand grenades and opened fire with automatic weapons at the police. Mathura SP Mukul Dwiwedi, who led the police team, got a bullet in his head, while SHO Santosh Kumar was shot in the face. While the SHO was declared brought dead at the hospital, the SP succumbed to his injuries later.

Police sources said the squatters had illegally accumulated nearly 1,000 LPG cylinders and used these to set off the explosions and fire. Eleven of the deaths were caused by these blasts. The dead included 22 members of the cult and four police personnel, including the SP and SHO. Two succumbed to their injuries in a Agra hospital on Friday. Over 20 policemen were critically injured and have been hospitalised.

The Mathura police has launched a massive manhunt for the alleged mastermind of Thursday’s violence, Ramvrish Yadav, believed to be the leader of the cult whose members have also been posing as “satyagrahis”. A senior police official said it was Yadav who provoked people at Jawahar Bagh to attack the police contingent. The state government indicated that the National Security Act may be invoked against him and his security officer Chandan Gaur, both of whom managed to flee after the clashes. The police has formed twelve teams to nab them.

The police claimed there were around 3,000 people inside Jawahar Bagh when it launched the anti-encroachment drive to push out the squatters, who were living there for the past two years. Earlier efforts to evacuate them had failed.

Spot reports claimed senior district officials, accompanied by a large number of policemen reached the 260-acre park at around 4.30 pm to evacuate the encroachers. The high court had earlier rejected the encroachers’ petition to allow them to continue the dharna. The police team was, however, completely clueless about the presence of arms and ammunition within the park premises, that included grenades, bombs, automatic weapons, pistols, rifles and knives. As the police team reached the outer wall of the park, the encroachers allegedly opened fire and started lobbing grenades. Some reports claimed women were also seen helping load the weapons and handling ammunition. Some squatters had also climbed trees and were firing at the policemen. Reinforcements were summoned after the situation had gone out of control.

Some local residents alleged there was a “major delay” in ordering the policemen to open fire on the attackers. The police reportedly opened fire only after the SHO was hit in the face by bullets. UP DGP Javed Ahmed said: “We knew they had arms, didn’t think they would fire at us.”