Police makes over 365 arrests; Centre blames UP govt for Mathura violence
Mathura/New Delhi: The Centre on Friday blamed the Uttar Pradesh government for the violence in Mathura in which at least 24 people, including an SP and SHO, lost their lives.
"Definitely there was lapse," Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters here.
Read: Mathura violence kills 24, CM Akhilesh Yadav admits 'some lapses'
Several huts caught fire after clashes between police and encroachers who were being evicted from Jawahar Bagh in Mathura. (Photo: PTI)
He was replying to a question on whether there was lapse on the part of the Akhilesh Yadav government in handling the situation on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police has made 368 arrests in connection with the violence in Mathura even as the four main accused in the clashes between police and members of a sect are absconding.
"Police has registered a case under sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 302, 353, 186, 188 of IPC and section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act against 11 named and 2500-3000 unnamed persons," Uttar Pradesh IG (Law and Order) Hari Ram Sharma said.
Police guard an entrance to a park where clashes between police and squatters broke out. (Photo: PTI)
He said among those arrested, 58 are accused in the case registered on a complaint by Sadar police station officer Pradip Kumar while 310 people were held for breach of peace.
Police has also recovered 58 weapons and 184 used and live cartridges from the area hit by violence in which 24 people including Superintendent of Police (City) Mukul Dwivedi and Farah Station House Officer Santosh Yadav were killed.
Read: Mathura clashes: Teary-eyed mother of killed SP, says 'bring back my son'
Sharma said enquiry into the violence is on and action will be taken if any official is found guilty regarding the clashes between police and the members of the sect, who had illegally set up a camp on an over 260-acre plot in Jawahar Bagh for last two years.
The entire area has been cleared, he said. "We have identified four main boys who are behind this entire incident and absconding right now," said Daljeet Singh, Additional Director General (law and order) of Uttar Pradesh Police.
Read: Mathura violence 'stark reminder' of deteriorating law and order in UP: Rahul Gandhi
"Ram Vriksh Yadav, Chandan Bose, Girish Yadav and Rakesh Gupta are identified as the main culprits of the violence and we are definitely going to hunt them," he said.
"We have asked the Special Task Force (STF) and local police in Mathura and neighbouring districts to hunt them and arrest them at the earliest," he added.
According to Singh, the sect members numbering around 3000 were from different parts of the state as well as outside and theirs was an "unlawful assembly".
There were people from different parts of Uttar Pradesh including Ghazipur and Badayun as well as from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and a few from Nepal, he said.
"It was just an unlawful assembly, they gathered here for a quite long time," he added.
The Home Ministry was awaiting for a detailed report from the Uttar Pradesh government about the circumstances leading to the incident and reasons.
Read: Encroachers to be booked under NSA: UP DGP on Mathura violence
The Home Ministry has already sought a report from the state government about the incident.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also spoken to Akhilesh and reviewed the prevailing situation.
