Mathura: The Centre has rushed 3 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) companies to Mathura following the killing of 24 people in a violent clash between police and members of Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah who had encroached on a government land in the city.
The reinforcements were sent amid fears of deterioration of law and order situation, an official said here.
Ram Vriksha Yadav, the mastermind behind the Mathura violence, is still missing and a massive manhunt is underway to trace him. Police said that Yadav and the security officer of the group Chandan Gaur managed to flee along with thousands of supporters.
Police has so far arrested over 300 members of the group. They claim that Yadav’s close aide is in police custody and he may provide links to locate the leader of sect.
According to police, Yadav belongs to Raipur Baghpur village under the Mardah police station area in Ghazipur. He is known as a reserved person, who is short-tempered. Police said that they are also planning to book Yadav under sedition charges.
Meanwhile, documents recovered from the Jawahar Park show that encroachers, under the leadership of Yadav, had planned to kill the residents of the camp and put the blame on the police. To that end, they had even procured ammunition used by the state police.
The documents suggest that Yadav ran a camp backed by a private army divided into units. Roll calls were conducted every morning and evening.
UP DGP, Javed Ahmed, who visited the Jawahar Park yesterday, informed that a huge cache of arms, primarily country made weapons, had been recovered from the park site.
He said the weapons recovered included 45 .315 bore country made pistols, two 12 bore rifles, a .315 bore rifle and swords and knives. The police have also recovered over 200 lives cartridges of different bore from the site.
The police also suspect that there was some imprint of Naxals.
"This is not an ordinary religious extremism. We are probing the angle that there could be some imprint of Naxals here as some of the leaders were from Left wing terror-hit Chhattisgarh and Ghazipur," C Mishra, the Inspector General of Mathura zone, said.
Mishra said that people were not allowed out and those leaving the camp were issued exit and entry passes. Also they had to bring two of their relatives or acquaintances as surety for their return.
As many as 24 people including two policemen SP City Mukul Dwivedi and Station Officer of Farah police station Santosh Yadav were killed in the Thursday's clash between the police and the encroachers.
Reports also say that the toll could be higher, as several policemen were still missing. Police said that efforts are on to establish the identities of 11 burnt bodies which were recovered from the park premises.
BJP demands CBI probe
Demanding a CBI probe into the matter, the BJP came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government over the incident and maintained that without political protection the people could not have stored large quantities of arms and illumination.
"It was the Samajwadi Party goons who encroached on the Jawaharbagh area some two years back and police was not given the freedom to act. It's a matter of sheer negligence. We demand a CBI inquiry into the matter," BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma, who rushed to Mathura on the directions of party President Amit Shah, said on Friday.
Actor-turned- politician Hema Malini, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mathura on the BJP ticket in 2014 polls, also demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
“A situation like this in Mathura is unheard of and has urged for a CBI probe into the clashes. This illegal encroachment was happening for a long time but SP government did not do anything. I did not realise that this will turn out to be such a serious matter," she said.
The group, which calls itself "satyagrahis" or revolutionaries, was staying in the park on the pretext of staging demonstrations and occupying the 300-acre park since January 2014.
