Over 2,000 violent Muslim mob attack police outpost in Jharkhand during Chhath celebrations

Sunday , November 14 , 2010 |

Mob attacks police outpost
VISHVENDU JAIPURIAR

Hazaribagh, Nov. 13: A mob of over 2,000 attacked a police outpost here today, pelting stones and torching a DSP’s jeep, to protest against alleged inaction after Muslims complained about loudspeaker use during Chhath celebrations yesterday during the time of Friday prayers.

Five policemen of Pelawal police outpost were injured while 13 troublemakers have been arrested.

The mob gathered at the outpost around 10am after which DSP Naushad Alam and sub-divisional officer Binay Rai asked that 10 members of the group come in for talks.

While this was being negotiated and 10 chosen representatives were coming inside, the mob started pelting stones, forcing the senior officers to take shelter inside.

Sanjay Kumar, the DSP’s bodyguard, managed to escort the group inside. “But when I came out again, a huge boulder hit me on the chest. I fell down and lost consciousness,” Kumar said.

By then, policemen inside the outpost took position and began firing teargas shells. But, the mob had other ideas. As the police were using short-range shells, some of the agitators picked them up and lobbed them back at the outpost.

“We began suffocating inside and were, therefore, forced to come out,” said Arun Kumar Singh, one of the policemen firing the shells.

The police then started firing long range shells, which worked, and the mob began to recede. As many as 48 rounds were fired.

Alam’s driver, Binod Kumar, then tried to drive away using his boss’s jeep, but he was hit by a stone. The mob then beat him up and set fire to the jeep. But the SDO’s driver managed to speed away and save his vehicle.

Earlier, the mob had dragged out a policeman’s motorbike from the outpost and set it afire. Another bike belonging to a journalist, who was with officials inside the outpost, was also torched.

Deputy commissioner Ravindra Kumar Agarwal and SP Pankaj Kamboj ordered a search of nearby houses and identified and arrested 13 culprits.

A local politician, Razi Ahmed, who had to come intervene, was also detained, but was later released.

“This is the handiwork of anti-social elements who tried to take advantage of the ongoing panchayat poll process,” said Kamboj.

“The police have identified those behind the attack. We will deal with them strictly.”

Yesterday in Pasai, 6km from the district headquarters, Muslims objected to the use of loudspeakers by Chhath vratis while namaz was being offered at a nearby mosque.

Yesterday in Pasai, 6km from the district headquarters, Muslims objected to the use of loudspeakers by Chhath vratis while namaz was being offered at a nearby mosque.

Chhath devotees also objected to water from the mosque spilling onto the road that was being used by the vratis.

This led to an altercation followed by pelting of stones. As many as 17 people were injured. While some were sent to Hazaribagh district hospital, a few others were shifted to Ranchi.

Agarwal said the situation was now under control in the town where security forces had been stationed to keep vigil.

LeT plan to recruit and forge a relationship with Maoists

LeT member motivated hired Maoists

NEW DELHI: Key Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative Mohammad Umer Madani reportedly motivated and recruited Maoist fighters from Jharkhand and Bihar.

Madani, who was arrested on June 4, disclosed this to the police during his 14-day remand. He was produced in court on Friday, following which his remand was extended by another week.

Madani revealed names of several Maoist leaders he was in regular touch with. On his current visit to India, Madani was scheduled to meet them in Bihar and Jharkhand. “He had been instructed by his bosses at LeT to recruit Maoists and forge a relationship with them with the help of money and firearms. It seems that LeT wanted to exploit the areas which are under the control of Maoists to smuggle arms and explosives,” said a senior police officer.

Sources said Madani also planned to train those recruited from other parts of India in Maoist strongholds before sending them to Pakistan for further training. “We need to catch his contacts who will shed more light on the talks that Madani had with them,” added the officer. Madani was produced before duty metropolitan magistrate Manish Yaduvanshi.

“Along with LeT, Madani was also supposed to recruit Maoists in Jharkhand. He acted as conduit for LeT and provided training to recruits in POK and sent them to India to carry out terror strikes,” said Rajiv Mohan, the public prosecutor, while seeking Madani’s remand.

Meanwhile, the police added that they would take Madani to Jharkhand and other places in Bihar to trace the entire network. “We are also in the process of verifying his visits to other countries to find out the source of money he accumulated,” said a police officer.

Madani, who had established a base in Nepal, was wanted in India for quite some time as his name was revealed with the arrest of three associates in 2002.

Madani was carrying foreign currency including USD 8,000 which he had received from Italy to carry out terror activities in the country at the time of his arrest. Meanwhile, the police also received the details of his two accounts at Himalayan Bank and Everest Bank in Nepal and learnt that there had been several transactions over past few months, amounting to more than Rs 25 lakh.

Clashes mar Muharram processions, 30 injured

Clashes mar Muharram processions, 30 injured
Express News Service
Posted: Jan 09, 2009

Kolkata/Balia/Godda More than 30 people were injured in Muharram clashes across the country on Thursday. While at least 27 persons, including one policeman, were injured in a communal clash at Midnapore town in West Bengal, five persons, including four children, were injured when unidentified persons triggered a blast at Kargil Chowk in Godda in Jharkhand just before a Muharram procession was to reach there, police sources said.

Shops and a tazia were set on fire in Gonda and Balia districts of Uttar Pradesh during Muharram observance, triggering communal tension. A brawl involving two persons sparked stone-throwing and burning of a few shops at Cahalhari in Gonda, the district’s Additional Superintendent of Police Malik Chandra Saroj said. In Balia, a tazia was allegedly burnt at Chilbara, which flared communal tension in the area, said Additional Superintendent of Police Mahatma Prasad.

Even as tension in Midnapore in West Bengal evened out after imposition of prohibitory orders following clashes in the morning between two groups over the route of a Muharram procession, curfew had to be clamped in the Chak Kasi area of Howrah district in the state when a similar clash resulted in several residences and shops being set on fire. Senior police officers said the incident took place in Chak Kasi Bazar in Gaus Colony under the Bauria police station at around 5.30 pm. District Magistrate Khalil Ahmed said the police had to use tear gas to disperse the mob. The police said a huge contingent had been deployed in the area, including the district combat force and the Rapid Action Force.

Meanwhile in Srinagar, the police detained 20 persons and virtually sealed the heart of the city to foil attempts by the Shia community to take out a Muharram procession defying prohibitory orders. However, massive processions were taken out in other parts of the Valley amid tight security.