Jawahar Bagh violence: Four days after clash, heads roll in Mathura

Lucknow: Four days after Mathura erupted into flames following clashes between the police and squatters at the Jawahar Bagh that left 29 dead, the Akhilesh government, on Monday, transferred the district magistrate Rajesh Kumar and SSP Rakesh Singh for alleged dereliction of duty from Mathura.

The state government, in a report, sent to the ministry of home affairs, has admitted that the police failed to assess the ‘strength’ of members who had encroached upon the Jawahar Bagh and it was this lapse that led to the clashes.

The report vehemently denies any political interference in dealing with the squatters which could have made the police vulnerable to the attack — an allegation that si being levelled by opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh.

The report further said that links of the Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah members with Maoist groups were being suspected  because of the quantity and quality of weapons recovered from the site.

It was reported also added that  lack of coordination between the district officials and the police led to the incident. The government said that it was because of this that it had transferred the district magistrate and SSP of Mathura.

Meanwhile, Nikhil Chandra Shukla has been posted as the new district magistrate of Mathura and Bablu Kumar will be the SSP. The outgoing SSP Rakesh Singh has been attached to the DGP office in Lucknow while Mr Rajesh Kumar has been waitlisted. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav tweeted about the action taken on Monday. This is the first major action taken in the matter by the state government.

Earlier, the official spokesman had stated that action against officials, if needed, would take place only after the inquiry report is submitted to the government by Commissioner Aligarh who has been assigned the probe.