Farmer leader, others booked after protest against ‘land acquisition’

“Rupesh and his supporters used foul language in front of officers and tried to intimidate them. It caused obstruction in public work and undue pressure was put on public servants. Higher officials tried to convince them, but they did not heed to any advice. They said that they have come to meet CEO,” said Narendra Kumar in his complaint filed at Surajpur Police Station.

The FIR has been registered under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 332 (deterring public servant from duty), 353 (assault or criminal force), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 507 (criminal intimidation), and section 7 of Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1932.

Verma denied the charge and said they had gone to the office to request officials to resolve the issue of land acquisition, which has been pending since 2010.

“The authority is using a guard to intimidate us. Our age-old abadi (residential plots) is being bulldozed illegally and we were just registering our protest. We requested the officials to resolve the matter in the interest of farmers,” Verma who is a leader of Kisan Sabha, said.

Verma also shared a purported video of the meeting, where a delegation of farmers can be seen having a heated argument with officials.

“For the industrial development of Greater Noida, authorities had acquired even our residential areas. We fought for this and demanded that these residential areas must be returned to the farmers. Then the authority came up with a regulation on leaseback. But it has not been implemented till date,” Verma said, claiming that 49 villages have been affected.