CBI inquiry on Mathura if UP wants, says Rajnath Singh

Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday queered the pitch for the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh, declaring the Centre was ready to order a CBI probe into the Mathura violence if the UP government sought it in writing.

“Everyone wants to know the truth behind the Mathura incident, and if the state government wants the entire truth to come out, they should request the Centre in writing and seek a CBI probe. We are ready for it”, he said, addressing a rally in Amroha.

In Mathura, the death toll from Thursday’s clashes between the Jawahar Bagh encroachers and the police rose to 29 Sunday, with two more people succumbing to their injuries, while Agra divisional commissioner

Chandra Kant began a probe on the circumstances that led to the clashes. Mr Kant said he would submit his report to the state government within a fortnight.

Mathura SSP Rakesh Singh said 45 cases were registered against 3,000 followers of a cult, Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, which claims to owe allegiance to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The home minister said it seemed there was something unknown about the entire episode. “There is a total collapse of law and order in Uttar Pradesh, and if the (Union) home ministry could interfere directly, so many people would not have lost their lives,” he said.