Probe ordered in Amod clashes

AMOD (BHARUCH DISTRICT), JAN 1: A semblance of calm returned to Amod today, after two days of violence in which two people were killed. C...

AMOD (BHARUCH DISTRICT), JAN 1: A semblance of calm returned to Amod today, after two days of violence in which two people were killed. Curfew, imposed yesterday, was lifted for four hours this afternoon, even as District Magistrate B B Swain ordered a magisterial inquiry into yesterday’s incidents in which the police fired after reportedly being fired at.

However, the police version of yesterday’s incidents that they fired only after being fired at have been disputed by residents of the area.Special Inspector-General of Police D D Tuteja, who has been camping in the town from Wednesday night, said the police patrol was fired on near Adarsh Phalia; but the victim, Qutub Ishwar Rana, was hit by a bullet in his house at Chowkhandi, approximately 250 metres away. A visit to the area suggested there was little scope of a bullet travelling from Adarsh Phalia to Chowkhandi: they are separated by several rows of houses and the terrain is uneven. When given this scenario, Tuteja said police had also been chasingaway people while firing, and under such circumstances a bullet could hit a person inside his house.

Eye-witnesses and members of Qutub’s family say there was no exchange of fire; he was shot at from close range. Abdurrahim, Qutub’s brother, said that the latter was in his house, when an SRPF constable fired at him from close range. This reporter also saw bullet marks on an iron window-grille (the bar was bent by the force), a cupboard and a dressing-table mirror in the house. Qutub was taken to the civil hospital, where he was declared dead.Tuteja and District Superintendent of Police N D Solanki said they had been informed about the attack on Qutub’s house by a Muslim delegation and would now visit his family. Tuteja also admitted that the police had not yet recovered the firearm allegedly used for firing on policemen or any spent cartridges; in fact, no arms had been recovered in the combing operations.

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He said some stone pieces and chilli powder had been seized from some houses; these, he claimed,had been stored for use in attacks on the police.Incidentally, the combing operation also fuelled a great deal of anger among the minority community, who allege that the policemen ransacked their houses, broke furniture, misbehaved with women and beat up children. They say that dozens of houses, including that of Congress leader Iqbal Kakuji — who was a Congress candidate in the recent Lok Sabha by-poll in Bharuch — were ransacked by the police yesterday on the pretext of searching for hidden weapons.

Dhanbai of Adarsh Phalia said: “The police attacked my house with stones, shouting that they had come for my daughters. When I finally opened the door, they beat up my two sons and abused me and my daughters”.