Police held 13 persons for interrogation over grabbing of Govt Property

Several persons including policemen were injured when two groups including the policemen fought pitch battle over grabbing of property belonging to Panchayat Bhawan in Gorakhpur. 

Local police reportedly used force and held 13 persons for interrogation. Later ADG (Gorakhpur Zone), Dawa Sherpa, claimed that the police was not part of any land grabbing but they went to defuse the trouble and had nabbed 13 persons involved in the violence. Sherpa said that the matter was now under investigation and appropriate action will be taken against the accused. 

Reports said that one Lal Chand, an employee of the Panchayat Bhawan at Astauli area of Gorakhpur, went with his associates to grab the government land on Tuesday morning. In the meantime, the other group accompanied by local police reached the spot which led to violence. Both the parties pelted stones on each other and had damaged several vehicles. It was only when additional force reached the spot, the situation could be brought under control. The cops held 13 persons including Lal Chand and took them to the police station and showed them arrested.  Heavy police is now patrolling in the area to avert any further clash.

Meanwhile yet another case of police negligence was reported from Bijnor where a young couple, who had eloped from their village, allegedly committed suicide in police custody. The couple, hailing from Takipur village, wanted to get married in a court so they ran away from their homes on Monday night but were detained by police patrolling near the Noorpur road while on their way to Bijnor on a motorcycle.

The couple was taken in custody and shifted to the police station for questioning. However, upon realising that their family members would be arriving there soon, they allegedly swallowed celphos (chemically known as Aluminium Phosphide) pills which were kept in the girl’s bag. The police admitted them to a nearby hospital but they could not be saved. According to Superintendent of Police in Bijnore Umesh Kumar Singh, the parents of the couple disapproved of their relationship as they belonged to the same community. The family members of the couple alleged carelessness on the part of the police. They said that had the police checked the woman’s bag, they could have prevented the suicides. A case has been registered and bodies have been shifted for post-mortem examination.