Cop hurt in crude bomb attack by Chautala supporters

A constable was injured Tuesday when angry supporters of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son hurled stones and crude bombs near a court complex here after the two were given 10 years jail in a graft case.

Around 2,000 supporters of the Chautalas gathered outside the Rohini court complex in north Delhi from early morning and started shouting slogans, which forced police to ban the entry of media, lawyers and others into the complex and court room.

During the protests, supporters of Chautala and his son Ajay started pelting stones  and crude bombs on police, injuring a constable.

Police lobbed teargas shells and resorted to a cane-charge, in which one protestor was injured. The injured were taken to Ambedkar Hospital.

Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar did not allow anyone -- other than the 55 accused in the graft case, their counsel, prosecutors and the court staff -- to enter the court room during the hearing citing "safety reasons".

"Many Chautala supporters tried to enter the court premises. The crowd calmed down for a while, but started throwing stones and crude bombs as soon as the ruling was delivered," a police official said.

"We have not detained anyone so far," the official added.

Apart from deployment of over 1,000 police personnel in and around the court, barricades were placed near court room number 406 where the Chautalas and other accused were given the 10-year jail term.

District Judge S.K. Sarwaria, along with some judges and police official, earlier inspected the court security.

Around 11.30 a.m. a lawyer came out of the court room and informed the media about the order and supporters of the Chautalas, waiting outside the court complex, started shouting slogans and threw crude bombs inside the complex, forcing police to lob tear gas shells at them.

There were traffic jams in the area as all roads leading to the court complex were packed with vehicles of the supporters of the Indian National Lok Dal chief and his legislator son.
Around 1 p.m., police took the accused with them to Tihar Jail under tight security.

The accused were sentenced to jail for their involvement in a 1999-2000 recruitment scam involving junior basic training teachers in Haryana.