Bhopal: The April 2 nationwide shutdown by Dalit and SC/ST organisations and subsequent violence over certain “dilutions” in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act brought about by the Supreme Court through its March 20 ruling, was not a spontaneous but well planned reaction, revealed police of Gwalior and Chambal which also shared the details with their counterparts in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
While protests against the SC ruling turned violent in many parts of the country, as many as eight people lost their lives and more than 100, including around 60 police officials, were injured in clashes in the state.
“Earlier, the police believed the violence was a spontaneous reaction of the aggrieved SC/ST groups, but later it was found to be well organised and planned in advance. The involvement of some religious people, pattern of riots in the state of Uttar Pradesh and three districts of MP and funding suggest high level conspiracy in the incident. Some mastermind must be there behind the game,” said one of the high ranking officers at police headquarters (PHQ) here in the city on Sunday.
“Religious people were found provoking the SC/ST groups and activists to take firm action in the matter. Police have gathered enough evidence and intelligence report confirming the involvement of religious leaders and saint in inciting the masses for violence,” said one of the probing officers posted in Gwalior Chambal region.
“Huge fund was mobilised to spread unrest in the three districts of the state– Gwalior, Bhind and Morena. People, including youths, were loitering drunk in the rallies organised during the ‘Bharat bandh’ from as early as 7:30 in the morning. The low income group population present in the protests certainly would not afford so much of liquor on their own. Besides, we have evidence of sticks and other local weapons being sponsored for the violence,” the officer said.
IG of Gwalior range, Anshuman Yadav informed Free Press that they had been sharing detailed notes of the investigation with the Uttar Pradesh police officials. “The pattern of the rampage right from Meerut to Alwar, Agra and others is just a copy of what happened in Gwalior, Bhind and Morena. The mobilisation of people, their way of marching and the modus operandi of vandalising were very much same”, he said, adding that “The funding has been one of the major issues of investigation and international funding could not be ruled out. We are collecting more evidence to establish the fact.” Social media messages spread on various platforms,including WhatsApp and Facebook, are also collected and analysed, the officers informed.
