Jawan killed in clashes between kanwariyas; 6 from Haryana held

Muzaffarnagar police have arrested six kanwariyas, all from Chulkana village in Haryana’s Panipat district. “We were alerted by Uttarakhand Police that a group of kanwariyas from Haryana is on the run after killing a fellow kanwariya from Sisauli in UP. We were told that a group of kanwariyas from Haryana was being chased by the Sisauli kanwariyas. Before we could reach the spot, the kanwariyas from Sisauli had cornered the Haryana kanwariyas at Barla on the national highway. The two groups clashed again,” said a senior police officer.

According to police, Kartik Kumar, who had returned home from Rajkot to take part in the kanwar yatra, was part of a dak kanwariya group from Sisauli town. Dak kanwariyas are a kind of express kanwariyas, who cover long distances barefoot, and are supposed to transport the holy water from Haridwar to their pledged destination within 24 hours of its collection, said police, adding that the competition to outpace each other led to the clash between the Sisauli kanwariyas and Haryana kanwariyas in Roorkee.

“We have arrested six kanwariyas from Haryana and their families have been informed… Those injured have been admitted to a hospital in Muzaffarnagar and their condition is said to be stable. There could be more arrests as we are investigating the case,” SP (Muzaffarnagar City) Arpit Vijayvargiya said.

All six have been booked for murder. Meanwhile, a team of Uttarakhand Police also interrogated the arrested kanwariyas in Muzaffarnagar, police said.