1 dead, policemen injured as mob hurls stones to oppose plan to raze dargah; tear gas used, 174 held
Junagadh (PTI): One person died apparently after being hit by a stone, while at least five police personnel were injured in Gujarat's Junagadh city after a group of people hurled stones and torched a vehicle to oppose the civic body's plan to raze a dargah to clear "encroachment", officials said on Saturday.
The incident occurred on Friday night near Majevadi Darwaja in the city, during which the police lobbed tear gas shells and baton-charged the protesters to control the situation, and later rounded up 174 people, they said.
The exact reason behind the civilian's death would be known after the post-mortem, but the police suspect that he died after being hit by a stone hurled by the mob.
"On June 14, the Junagadh Municipal Corporation issued a notice to a mosque near Majevadi Darwaja to produce documents regarding the ownership of land. Agitated over the notice, around 500-600 people gathered near the religious structure and blocked roads on Friday night," Superintendent of Police Ravi Teja Vasamsetty said.
Deputy SP of Junagadh and other staff, who were present at the site, tried to convince them. After nearly an hour-long deliberations aimed at finding a peaceful resolution of the matter and clearing the protesters' road blockade, some stones were thrown at the police staff around 10.15 pm, he said.
Shouting slogans, some people, agitated over the notice to the dargah, charged towards the police personnel and tried to attack them, he added.
Police lobbed tear gas shells and baton-charged to disperse the unruly crowd. Junagadh DySP, three sub-inspectors and two other police personnel were injured in the incident, but all of them are out of danger, he said, adding that a mob also set a vehicle on fire.
"A civilian died and it appears that stone-pelting was the cause of his death. But we are waiting for a post-mortem report to know the exact cause. Police teams rounded up 174 people in a combing operation," Vasamsetty said.
Police personnel are deployed in the area to avoid any further untoward incident and efforts to nab all those involved in the clash are being taken, he said.
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CM Siddaramaiah appears before Lokayukta police for questioning in MUDA case
Mysuru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appeared before the Lokayukta police here on Wednesday in response to the summons issued to him for questioning in the MUDA site allotment case.
The CM, who has been named as accused number 1 in the FIR registered by the Lokayukta police, is facing allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi B M by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
They had on October 25 questioned his wife, who has been named as accused number 2.
Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju -- from whom Swamy had purchased a land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Mysuru-located Lokayukta police establishment on September 27.
Swamy and Devaraju have already deposed before the Lokayukta police.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court had on Tuesday issued notice to Siddaramaiah and others on a writ petition filed by RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna, seeking a direction to transfer the case to CBI.
Justice M Nagaprasanna, who also issued notice to Parvathi, Swamy, Union of India, the State government, CBI, Lokayukta and others, directed the Lokayukta to place on record investigation conducted in the case so far.
The court posted the next hearing to November 26.
On October 24, the CM filed an appeal before the division bench of the High Court, challenging the decision of a single judge bench in connection with the MUDA site allotment case that had come as a setback to him.
The bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna had on September 24 dismissed the CM's petition challenging Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot's approval for a probe against him in the case, observing that the gubernatorial order nowhere "suffers from want of application of mind".
Siddaramaiah had challenged the legality of Gehlot's sanction for the investigation against him in the alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites by MUDA in a prime locality.
Following the High Court order, a Special Court here on the very next day had ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Siddaramaiah, and directed to file the investigation report by December 24.
Parvathi, meanwhile, had written to MUDA to cancel 14 sites allotted to her and the MUDA had accepted it.
On September 30, the ED filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR) to book the CM and others taking cognisance of the Lokayukta FIR, and is also probing the case.
In the MUDA site allotment case, it is alleged that 14 compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru (Vijayanagar Layout 3rd and 4th stages), which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by MUDA.
The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where it developed a residential layout.
Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.
It is alleged Parvathi had no legal title over this 3.16 acres of land at survey number 464 of Kasare village on the outskirts of Mysuru.
