BJP workers clash with cops in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: Tension prevailed in Kanth area of Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh as BJP leaders and supporters were prevented from holding a mahapanchayat in the area that has been gripped by communal trouble since the past few days. Angry BJP workers squatted on the railway tracks and pelted stones at the police.

The district magistrate was seriously injured and has been hospitalised where his condition is said to be serious. He received head injuries and an eye has been damaged. Later on Friday evening, he was shifted to Delhi for further treatment.

SSP Dharamvir, one circle officer, one inspector and three sub-inspectors were also injured in the violence.

Three BJP MPs and BJP MLA Sangeet Som also an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots were detained and later released as they tried to defy the ban on the mahapanchayat. Kunwar Singh Tanwar, the MP from Amroha, Satyapal Saini MP from Sambhal and Nepal Singh, MP from Rampur, were stopped when they tried to head towards Kanth. The leaders were shifted to police lines.

Home secretary Kamal Saxena and IG (law and order) Amrendra Sengar told reporters in Lucknow that the situation was under control and the railway tracks had been cleared.
The officials said that over 200 persons had been arrested.

The BJP had convened the mahapanchayat following a dispute in Kanth, over a loudspeaker installed at a temple. After the incident, Uttar Pradesh BJP constituted a five-member committee of its MLAs for a detailed probe into the violence and detention of few of its legislators.

UP BJP president Laxmi Kant Bajpai alleged that to crush agitation by the people police resorted to lathi-charge leading to a clash in which persons from both the sides were injured.