Tension gripped Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district again on Wednesday after one person was seriously injured after he was sprayed with bullets by miscreants near Puwarka even as concerned over recurring violence in the district, chief minister Yogi Adityanath rushed senior police officials to control the situation.
According to the police sources here, Pradeep Kumar, a Thakur by caste, was fired at by unidentified motorbike borne miscreants inflicting serious injuries. He was rushed to the hospital where his condition was stated to be critical.
Two persons have so far been killed and around a dozen injured in clashes between dalits and thakurs in Saharanpur in the past few days.
A dalit youth was stabbed to death allegedly by members of thakur community at Chandpur village on Tuesday. A large number of upper caste thakurs attacked the dalits, while they were returning after taking part in the BSP supremo Mayawati’s meeting at Shabbirpur village in the district.
Members of dalit community had torched several homes of thakurs in Shabbirpur before Mayawati’s visit on Tuesday.
UP police chief Sulkhan Singh said that 24 people had been arrested in connection with the violence. ‘’The situation is under control,’’ Singh claimed.
UP government has rushed additional director general of police, law and order, Aditya Mishra and IG, Special Task Force (STF) Amitabh Yash to Saharanpur to control the situation.
The communally sensitive district has been in the grip of violence for the past several days. The trouble sparked off when clashes erupted between thakurs and dalits over taking out a procession at Shabbirpur village.
Several houses of both communities had been torched in the violence. Security personnel in strength had been deployed in the district to maintain order.
The Yogi government has come under sharp attack from the political rivals over recurring violence at Saharanpur.
Published 24 May 2017, 12:40 IST