Baba Siddique's death shows poor law and order situation in Maharashtra: Mallikarjun Kharge
Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Oct 13: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said the assassination of Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique shows the poor law and order situation prevailing in Maharashtra.
The people will teach a lesson to the ruling coalition government in the state in the upcoming election, he said.
NCP leader and former Maharashtra Minister Baba Siddique was shot by three men in Mumbai on Saturday, following which two of the assailants were arrested.
"It is quite visible that there is a complete failure of law and order in Maharashtra because in the broad daylight it happened," Kharge told reporters in his hometown of Kalaburagi.
The district in North Karnataka shares a border with Maharashtra.
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According to Kharge, a fortnight ago Siddiqui had shared information with the government that there was a possibility of attack on him. He even informed the police commissioner expressing his apprehension about whether he would survive or not, the Congress chief claimed.
"Why no protection was given to him? Why the situation reached this stage and why the culprits could not be caught? It means law and order has collapsed there," he said.
Kharge alleged that the government is in such a situation where three parties are taking decision and the bureaucrats are puzzled about whom to listen to and whom not to.
"Law and order problem has worsened there. People will teach them a lesson in the upcoming election," he said.
Siddique was shot dead by three men in Mumbai's Bandra area on Saturday, and two of the assailants have since been arrested, officials said.
The shocking incident prompted the Opposition to question the law and order situation in the state where Assembly elections are expected to be held next month.
Siddique (66), a former Congressman, was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital but succumbed to injuries. He was attacked outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui's office near Colgate ground in Nirmal Nagar, Bandra East, police said.
Siddique had represented Bandra (West) seat three times in the Assembly. A prominent Muslim leader from Mumbai, Siddique was also known to be close to several Bollywood stars.
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Haridwar prison break: Three inmates planned to scale wall, one failed as ladder fell
Haridwar, Oct 13: Two prisoners who escaped from Haridwar district jail had hatched the plan with a third inmate, who also tried to scale the prison wall with them but failed as his ladder fell, police sources said on Sunday.
The three had planned the prison break about a week before a Ramlila event in jail which they took advantage of to escape, they said.
Police, however, are yet to find any leads on the whereabouts of the two prisoners who managed to escape.
Pankaj, who is serving life imprisonment, and Ramkumar Chauhan, an undertrial in a kidnapping and ransom case, escaped from the prison on Friday night. Six jail officials, including jailer Pyarelal, were suspended for negligence after the matter came to light.
Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pramendra Doval formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which will be led by Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar) Jitendra Mehra, on Friday night to re-arrest the prisoners as soon as possible.
The police sources said preliminary investigation revealed that Pankaj and Ramkumar had planned to escape with another inmate, Chhotu. The three planned the prison break about a week before the Ramlila performance.
Taking advantage of the fact that the prison staff was preoccupied with preparations for the Ramlila performance, the three tied two ladders together using a piece of cloth and put it next to the wall. Pankaj and Rajkumar managed to successfully scale the wall. But when Chottu started climbing the ladder, it fell and he failed to escape, the sources said.
Ten teams have been deployed to nab Pankaj and Rajkumar. The teams are yet to find any clues about their whereabouts, police said.
