Mathura encroachment clash: Death toll climbs to 29

The death toll in the clashes between the police and encroachers of Jawahar Bagh has risen to 29 with two more persons succumbing to their injuries even as police registered 45 cases against the occupants.

An unidentified encroacher died during treatment in the district hospital here and one Pinakoo, resident of Azamgarh, succumbed to his injuries in SN Medical College in Agra, taking the death toll to 29, Chief Medical Officer Vivek Mishra said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh said 45 cases have been registered against the encroachers in which 3000 persons have made the accused.

He said some more arrests are possible in the case as police teams are trying to ascertain the accomplices of Ram Vriksh Yadav, the chief of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, who were providing financial support and arms to him.

Operations in Jawahar Bagh would continue till Monday in search of explosives and weapons, he said.

Bodies of ten encroachers, including two women, have been identified by their accomplices who are lodged in jail.  Efforts are on to identify the other bodies, Singh said.

If relatives do not come forward to claim the bodies within 72 hours, their postmortem would be carried out at 11 AM on Monday following which their last rites would be conducted, he said.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti accused Uttar Pradesh PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav of being responsible for the violence and demanded that a case be registered against him.

Seeking strict action against him, she alleged that the encroachers had the protection of Shivpal which is why no action was taken against them even after over two years of encroachment.

She alleged that the administration was not given permission to take strict action against the occupants and adequate police force was also not deployed for the eviction.

BJP leaders claimed that they were not allowed entry into Jawahar Bagh.

“We had an argument with the police that out high-power committee wants to go inside and see the system of kitchens, water etc which was in place there since the past two and a half years. But they are not letting us go inside,” a local BJP leader said.