BJP workers clash with police in West Bengal
Kolkata: BJP workers clashed with the police at several places of West Bengal Sunday as the saffron party was prevented from holding its 'Vijay Sankalp' motorbike rally.
Police said they prevented the rallies as permission had not been granted to them because of the ongoing school board examinations.
The 'Vijay Sankalp' bike rally is part of the BJP's countrywide pre-poll exercise to establish contact with people.
Clashes between BJP workers and policemen took place at Durgapur and Asansol in West Burdwan district, Midnapore town and Goaltore in West Midnapore, and Balurghat in South Dinajpur when they took out the motorcycle rallies.
At Goaltore, a DSP level officer and four other policemen were injured, police sources in West Midnapore said.
The police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the saffron party workers at Asansol and Goaltore leaving some people from both sides injured.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of using the police and administration to prevent the party workers from holding peaceful rallies out of fear of losing political ground in West Bengal.
Claiming that it is a new BJP in the state which will not take intimidation lying down, Ghosh said if the TMC leaders think they can frighten saffron party workers by using force, then they are mistaken.
"Hundreds of Sankalp yatras were arrested.... It will be held even if the police arrest us," Ghosh said in the morning at Durgapur.
Saffron party leaders engaged in arguments with police in the city as they were prevented from taking out rallies owing the lack of permission.
An officer of Kolkata Police said 135 persons were arrested and 59 motorcycles were seized from different places of the city as a preventive measure.
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Emotional tributes paid to cops killed in blast at gunpowder dump of Maoists in Chhattisgarh
Narayanpur (Chhattisgarh) (PTI): Emotional scenes were witnessed on Sunday as wreaths were laid on the mortal remains of three of the four police personnel killed in an explosion in a gunpowder dump of Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district.
The grieving family members were inconsolable, while security personnel tried to comfort them.
Amid chants of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram," public representatives, along with senior police and administrative officials, paid tributes to the deceased personnel.
The wreath-laying ceremony to pay homage to Inspector Sukhram Vatti (40), constables Krishna Komra (35) and Sanjay Gadhpale (29), killed in the explosion on Saturday, was held at the Police Lines in Narayanpur district, neighbouring Kanker.
The mortal remains of constable Parmanand Komra (29), who succumbed to injuries during treatment in Raipur, will be shifted to Kanker, where a separate wreath-laying ceremony will be held, police said.
Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj Pattilingam, after paying homage, told reporters that the four police personnel made the supreme sacrifice while protecting the region.
"I pay my homage to them," he added.
The four personnel were killed while they were attempting to dispose of a gunpowder dump hidden earlier by Maoists in a forest near Aadnar village under Chhotebethiya police station limits in Kanker district, according to police.
It was the first explosion linked to Naxalites in the state since it was declared free from armed Maoists on March 31, and also the first instance this year in which security personnel engaged in anti-Naxal operations lost their lives.
District Reserve Guard (DRG) official Vatti, who was leading the team, hailed from Bijapur district. Constable Krishna Komra of the district force and constables Gadhpale and Parmanand Komra of the Bastar Fighters were residents of different villages in Kanker.
