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Saharanpur riots may be preplanned: Cops

Last Updated 28 July 2014, 20:25 IST

Saharanpur may be limping back to normalcy after a day of large-scale, violence but officials here feel that the unrest in the communally sensitive town, which is very close to Muzaffarnagar, may have been “preplanned”.

The magnitude of the violence and the places targeted make the police officers believe that the rioters may have planned the whole thing in advance and may have been “waiting for a suitable opportunity”.

To buttress their contention, officials pointed out that the rioters torched the local fire station when the violence erupted, as a result of which the administration found it very difficult to douse the flames after dozens of shops were torched by the trouble-mongers.

According to reports, local authorities had to request the Indian Air Force station at Sarsawa to send fire tenders to extinguish blazes at shops and houses in different parts of the town on Sunday. 

It was also surprising to see such a large number of shops torched within such a short time, said the officials.

A senior police officer said that the mob that clashed near the “disputed” land in the early hours of Sunday was heavily armed. “The people carried knives, swords and pistols,” he told Deccan Herald.

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(Published 28 July 2014, 20:24 IST)

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