Rajkot police attacked by mob demanding public parade of murder accused, 60 arrested

Ahmedabad: The Rajkot district police on Tuesday arrested 60 persons for attacking policemen for not publicly parading murder suspects across the town.

Police have named 84 persons in the FIR along with a mob of 3000 men and women who attacked the police in a "pre-planned conspiracy". They have been booked for attempt to murder, rioting, illegal assembly, among other charges.

Aleast six policemen suffered injuries and three police vehicles were damaged in the violence on Monday. To disperse the mob, the police baton charged and used 11 cells of stun hand grenades, three rounds of rubber bullets, two cells of 40 metre TS cell, among other tools, to control the situation.

"They started throwing stones at the cops and vandalised police vans," Rajkot rural superintendent of police, Himkar Singh, told DH adding that 60 accused were caught and efforts were on to apprehend others.

Police said that the mob was demanding public parading of six suspects who were caught for the brutal murder of one Ghanshyam Rajpara on December 31. Rajpara is said to have reported about an illegal construction involving the suspects.

The suspects and the victim belong to two different communities because of which the case became sensitive.

The community leaders of the deceased demanded the police to make the suspects walk through all the main markets of Vinchhiya town under Rajkot district police.

The act is locally known as "sarghas" that translates to 'taking out procession'. In recent times, police across the state have been taking out such processions of the accused in the pretext of reconstructing the crime scene. In many cases, police have been parading the suspects in full public view with their hands tied and barefoot.

Recently, one of such cases backfired after an accused woman was paraded along with other co-accused in a fake letter case involving BJP workers in Amreli. The woman was from the powerful Patel community, which protested the police action and it was supported by the Congress as well as the Aam Aadmi Party.

Police were forced to file an affidavit in the court saying that the woman didn't have any role in the crime and she was released from the jail.

A senior police officer told DH that in the Vinchhiya case too the police had taken the victim to the crime scene for reconstruction when there were about hundred people who had gathered to see it.

The FIR claims that the community leaders of the deceased called the policemen to take out the procession of the accused in all the main areas of the town claiming that "it was the demand of the community."

The leaders also threatened the police that refusing this, they would gather public from Vinchhiya and nearby villages and stage a protest at mamlatdar office.

The police tried to pacify the leaders who had already gathered at the mamlatdar office but they threatened that if their demand was not met, they would gather at the police station and attack the suspects.

The FIR, filed by police inspector T b Jani, says the community leaders started inciting the crowd and sending out WhatsApp messages to reach Vinchhiya police station in large numbers.

To control the situation, the police tried to detain two community leaders, including Mukesh Rajpara and Navnit Solanki, during which the two leaders incited the mob to reach the police station and attack the suspects if thier demands were not met.

The policemen present at the spot alerted the station and other officers. In no time, more than 3000 people, according to the FIR, had gathered in front of the police station. While the police were trying to pacify the mob, police force from nearby police stations including Jasdan reached the spot and the mob turned violent.