Wrestlers' protest: Heavy security turns Jantar Mantar into fortress
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police on Thursday morning made a heavy deployment of security personnel at Jantar Mantar where a scuffle broke out between the protesting wrestlers and some police personnel, leading to head injuries to a couple of protesters.
Multiple layers of barricades have been put up around the protest site and no one is being allowed in.
It comes after wrestlers called for farmers and their leaders to assemble at the protest site on Thursday morning.
Police are also checking vehicles at city border points to stop a large gathering at Jantar Mantar, an official said who didn't wish to be named.
A scuffle had allegedly broken out between the protesting wrestlers and some police personnel at the Jantar Mantar here, leading to head injuries to a couple of protesters.
The wrestlers have alleged that they were manhandled by the police personnel.
According to protestors, two wrestlers Rahul Yadav and Dushyant Phogat were also injured. Phogat has received head injuries.
On Wednesday late night, police detained Rajya Sabha MP Dipendra Hooda and chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Swati Maliwal who had reached the spot to support the wrestlers.
The wrestlers have been staging a sit-in at Jantar Mantar since April 23. They have levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Uttar Pradesh.
In a video being circulated on social media platforms, some of the protesters can be heard accusing a police personnel of attacking two wrestlers under the influence of alcohol.
The accused policeman is seen sitting in the video, while the protesters allege that his colleagues were mute spectators.
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Conspiracy afoot to 'tarnish' image of Dharmasthala: Deputy CM DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Aug 14 (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday said there was a “conspiracy” to tarnish the image of Dharmasthala.
His comments come amid an ongoing investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into serious allegations of mass burials in the revered temple town in Dakshina Kannada district.
“A conspiracy is being hatched to destroy hundreds of years of legacy. It is not correct to tarnish someone just like that. It has all happened due to one complainant,” he said.
Noting that some Congress MLAs have called for action against those involved in the slander campaign at the legislature party meeting, he said, “ I have told them that action must be taken against those who are indulging in a slander campaign. The CM has also said that action must be taken against such people.”
“I have information on this case. Religious feelings should not be hurt in any manner. Culprits must be punished,” he told reporters, according to a release from his office.
Responding to a question, Shivakumar said the Congress party will not allow the image of any religious place to be tarnished.
“We see everyone equally when it comes to religion,” he added.
The SIT, formed by the state government, is probing claims of mass murder, rape, and mass burials in Dharmasthala over the past two decades.
The complainant, a former sanitation worker whose identity has not been revealed, alleged that between 1995 and 2014 he was forced to handle bodies—including women and minors—and that some showed signs of sexual assault. He has given a statement before a magistrate.
As part of the probe, the SIT has been conducting exhumations at multiple locations identified by the complainant-witness in the forested areas along the banks of the Netravathi River in Dharmasthala, where some skeletal remains have been found at two sites so far.
