Riot For Votes: Did Azam Khan ask cops to go slow in Muzaffarnagar? Officer

[Sashan]

Riot For Votes: Did Azam Khan ask cops to go slow in Muzaffarnagar? Officers say, yes


He is the Muslim face of Akhilesh's cabinet, the man who publicly castigated the government for failing to protect Muslims, even refusing to attend the SP's national executive in a huff. But now comes a shocking allegation. What is Operation Riot For Votes

Did this senior SP leader 'pressure' cops to go-slow in controlling the riots?

The Headlines Today special investigation 'Operation Riot For Votes' lays bare the plot at the base of the destruction unleashed in Muzaffarnagar which claimed 48 lives and left thousands homeless. Our undercover reporters spoke to various police officers and this is what they had to say:

Headlines Today: Main role I think was Azam Khan's, that he put pressure.
R S Bhagaur, Second Officer: That's right, that's right.

Headlines Today: You won't do anything, you will let things happen as they are happening.
R S Bhagaur, Second Officer: Yes

Headlines Today: This is all political, they are trying to take advantage of the situation.
R S Bhagaur, Second Officer: Everyone is trying to take advantage

Before getting you full details of this politician's involvement in the volatile build-up, we take you through the sequence of events which led to large-scale communal violence engulfing Muzaffarnagar.

Evening of 7th September
Blood spilled at the Jat Mahapanchayat

Morning 8th Septemebr
After the Jat Mahapanchayat, Muzaffarnagar witnessed immediate counter-violence the next day. 8th september 2013 was one of the bloodiest days. The worst hit area was Fugana that lies on the border of Shahpur and Budhana tehsils.


R S Bhagaur, Second Officer, Fugana Police Station


Headlines Today: How many casualties have there been in your area?
R S Bhagaur, Second Officer: Around 16.

Bhagaur goes on to ask how a handful of his officers could have taken on hundreds of armed rioters.

Headlines Today: So police force could not reach the spot at all?
R S Bhagaur, Second Officer: Police did reach the spot, but there were very few policemen.
Headlines Today: There were less policemen
R S Bhagaur, Second Officer: Yes

It is suprising why the most sensitive area in the district lacked adequate police force. Even more startling, extra forces were dispatched late to the area, allowing rioters to rule the streets.

R S Bhagaur, Second Officer: See everything is practical.
Headlines Today: For how long could you not establish contact with your officers?
R S Bhagaur, Second Officer: We kept struggling for an hour, we were stuck but we gave it our all. We used to take out the mobile phone, say 'okay' & keep it back in our pockets. That was our condition.

Location: Budhana

Rishipal, Inspector: I have 20 constables, 3-4 inspectors at the station. So I won't try & send 4 inspectors to control a riot. I would think of taking my entire force to control the violence. But before I could control the situation here, riots spread to another area. By the time we went to the second place, it spread to the third place.
Headlines Today: You didn't have enough forces?
Rishipal, Inspector: We didn't have enough force that could have sent to every village.


It is believed, netas like Azam Khan got their calculations wrong. Hoping to play saviour for the Muslims, they ordered the police to go slow on a handful of Jats hellbent on creating mayhem. But as is often the case, the situation went out of control very quickly as the flames spread to the hinterland.

The revelations are shocking. Will Akhilesh Yadav once again use silence as his shield?


Read more at: Riot For Votes: Did Azam Khan ask cops to go slow in Muzaffarnagar? Officers say, yes : India, News - India Today

 

[Sashan]

Riot For Votes: After the first murders in Muzaffarnagar, all suspects were freed on 'orders from above'


On August 27, when a boy was killed for harassing a teen in Kawal village and then his alleged killers were lynched too, police caught all the suspects. Then, all eight were let off.

But why?

Headlines Today uncovered the truth in Jansath tehsil, where Kawal village is located. What is Operation Riot For Votes?

We accosted Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) R.C. Tripathi and Circle Officer J.R. Joshi. Both had just returned from touring riot-affected areas. On the night of August 27, it was Joshi who detained eight people for disturbing communal harmony and alleged double murders. Curiously, he was forced to free them.

JR Joshi is on the right in uniform, while the man in white is the SDM RC Tripathi


Headlines Today: You caught the actual culprits?

Circle officer: "Yes, the culprits were among those detained".

Despite that the FIR was lodged in such a way that all the men were let off. Soon after, the state government transferred SSP Manjit Saini and District Magistrate Surendra Singh. The search for the accused had been conducted in their presence.

Samarpal Singh, an inspector in Bhopa, admitted to vote bank politics at play.



Headlines Today: "We've heard that the rioters were apprehended and the entire village was surrounded".

Inspector: "The DM and the SSP surrounded the village and sent a police search team. The rioters were caught that night".

Headlines Today: "That was a good thing."

Inspector: "What else could they have done? This was above us."

Headlines Today: "This is really bad vote bank politics."

Inspector: "Yes."

So the real culprits were rounded up but allowed to go free under political pressure -- their release made simple by being ordered to file a deliberately "weak" FIR.


Headlines Today: "Oh, so you had caught the culprits!"

Circle officer: "When I saw the FIR, it had only one person's name. We're helpless."

SDM: "A 'weak' FIR was filed."

Headlines Today: "So they were released."

Circle officer: "We were told their name is not in the FIR, what's the need to detain them?"

Headlines Today: "So the seven-eight men who were held, they were brought to the police station?"

Circle officer: "Yes, they were brought to the station. They said they weren't at the spot but I knew they were lying."

Headlines Today: "So, you released them."

At the first sign of unrest, the UP government did the opposite of what it should have done in such a situation. Three people had died and communal passions had been inflamed. The culprits were behind bars. But what did the Akilesh Yadav government do?

It ensured the release of the culprits! Worse, the administration was stopped from carrying out thorough house-to-house search. And when the DM and the SSP persisted, they were shunted out. Pliable officers were brought in and the new DM gave an entirely different direction to the probe.


Headlines Today: "When did these murders take place; when were suspects arrested?"

Circle officer: "The incident was reported at 2 pm."

Headlines Today: "No, when did arrests take place?"

Circle officer: "Around 4-4.30 pm -- as soon as the bodies were picked up."

Headlines Today: "And how were the suspects released?"

Circle officer: "They were released late at night. Orders came from above."

Headlines Today: "After the DM's transfer?"

Headlines Today: "The accused whom you had arrested, were they actually involved?"

Circle officer: "See, I can't say that but eyewitnesses testified to their presence on the spot."

SDM: "They were prime suspects."

Headlines Today: "Prime suspects. That was a major mistake."

SDM: "This is the country's, our system's misfortune. As soon as there's a tragedy, these politicians land up."


Station House Officer (SHO) Anirudh Kumar Gautam said shunting out of the DM and the SSP was planned long back.

Headlines today: "What was the reason that night?"

SHO: "It's all a political stunt."

Headlines Today: "You mean removing him was a wrong decision?"

SHO: "They were trying to remove the DM and the SSP for the last two months. People from Samajwadi Party were trying to remove these officers."

Headlines Today: "Why?"

SHO: "They must be thinking they weren't working according to them...right or wrong. This was the reason, what else?"



Read more at: Riot For Votes: After the first murders in Muzaffarnagar, all suspects were freed on 'orders from above' : India, News - India Today

Operation #RiotForVotes: Police officers reveal inside story of how 'political interference fuelled Muzaffarnagar riots'


The Headlines Today Special Investigation - Operation #RiotForVotes - revealed how in a matter of days, naked communal insanity took over as politicos and top cops watched the macabre spectacle. The powers-that-be rolled the dice and the streets and chowks of Muzaffarnagar turned into their chessboard. What is Operation #RiotForVotes

Going undercover, the Headlines Today team spoke to UP Police officials responsible for handling Muzaffarnagar and the aftermath of the worst communal flare up in the area in a decade.

The men who report to Akhilesh revealed all. It is the biggest expose of an administration hell bent on doing the oposite of what it is entrusted with, all for a few more votes.


Shockingly, this is what the cops had to say:

Location: Muzaffarnagar



Kalpana Saxena, SP, Crime: All sorts of things were said. There are a lot of things. We are in a lot of pressure right now. There's a lot of work. We'll talk in peace some day.
Headlines Today: But madam tell why was murder given a communal taint?
Kalpana Saxena, SP, Crime: What do I say? If I tell you in detail, then all this is very political. Muslims are thinking something. Hindus are thinking Muslims are being appeased. A lot of that is going on.

Followed by:

Satya Pratap Singh, Sho, Shahpur

Attacks on a particular community are increasing day by day, in that context, both police & administration are not taking proper action. We have to keep in mind what the govt wants & how we can save our job. Vote bank politics has ruined the country.

RS Bhagaur, SI, Fugna

Let me tell you one thing, the fact that I'm sitting in this police station is because I have said yes to what they wanted, otherwise I would have been suspended, sent home. I'm getting old, my kids will be troubled, where will I get food from?


R C Tripathi, SDM, Jansath



It's true that false FIRSs have been lodged. Even those who filed the FIR know this. 2 boys came & they were killed. Their parents were old. All these things were picked up by political groups, farmers' union took it up. Even before the police could do anything, it got caught up in law & order situation.



Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/muzaffarnagar-headlines-today-sting-riots-for-votes/1/310298.html

 

[kaykay]

Now congress won't utter a word on it. After all they belongs to the same biradari thats 'sickularism'.

 

[punjabilion]

Now congress won't utter a word on it. After all they belongs to the same biradari thats 'sickularism'.

we should teach a lesson to congrees and samajvadi party by voting in favour of BJP