Sambhal violence: SP delegation barred from entering; Akhilesh announces Rs 5 lakh compensation to kin of deceased

The Samajwadi Party had earlier announced a 15-member delegation would visit the district to gather information about the violence that broke out over a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid.

Lucknow: A delegation of the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday was prevented from entering Sambhal district which was rocked by violence a few days back during a court ordered survey of a mosque.

Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Mata Prasad Pandey was not allowed to proceed to Sambhal with other party leaders by the police.

The police handed Pandey a letter from the Sambhal DM which stated that the entry of outsiders has been banned there following the violence in which four people were killed and scores others injured.

Police were deployed outside the residences of Pandey and the leader of the opposition in the state legislative council Lal Bihari Yadav, according to the sources there.

Dozens of SP workers held a demonstration here in protest against denial of permission to the party leaders to go to Sambhal.

''The state government does not want the truth to come out and therefore it is not allowing us to go there,'' Pandey said.

Meanwhile, SP president Akhilesh Yadav announced that his party would provide Rs 5 lakh compensation each to the next of kin of the deceased in the Sambhal violence.

BJP sharply criticised Akhilesh's announcement saying that it proved that the SP was with the rioters.

Four persons were killed and several others, including cops, injured when a mob pelted stones and torched vehicles in the town, about 400 kilometres from here, on Sunday during a court ordered survey of a famous mosque after some Hindu plaintiffs claimed that the mosque had been constructed after demolishing a temple during the Mughal period.