"DM, SSP responsible": SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra on Sambhal violence

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], November 30 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Ravidas Mehrotra on Saturday accused the District Magistrate of Sambhal and the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of being involved and responsible for the ongoing tension in Sambhal. He said that they are scaring people and not allowing them to come out of their houses.
"DM and SSP are themselves involved and responsible. They are scaring people and not allowing them to come out of their houses. We are currently in conversation. Others are also coming. If we are stopped from going there, we will sit on a protest. We want to maintain peace," Ravidas Mehrotra told ANI.
The senior SP leader said that the party delegation wants to meet the families of five victims who have died in the ongoing Sambhal violence.
"Heavy Police force has been deployed but we had left home early morning itself. We went to party chief Akhilesh Yadav's residence...the families of the five victims who have died are very sad, we are going to meet and comfort them. We will also meet the injured. Our goal is to maintain peace there," Mehrotra said.
The SP MLA demanded that the DM and SSP be removed and a probe must be carried out under a current High Court judge.
"Those who are responsible for this (violence) - the DM (District Magistrate) and SSP (Senior Superintendent of Police) - should be removed and a probe should be initiated under a current High Court judge," SP MLA Mehrotra said.
Meanwhile, SP leader Mata Prasad Pandey on Saturday morning said that the district magistrate (DM) of Sambhal called him over the phone and asked him not to visit the district amid the ongoing tensions in the area. He said that a written notice should be given to him as per the rules, saying that he cannot go to Sambhal.
"They (administration) should have given me a notice as per the rules that I cannot go there, but no written notice was given. They only talk on the telephone. They deployed the police. The Justice Commission is going there, media people are going there, will there be any unrest if we go there? This government is deliberately stopping us to hide all its work," Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Mata Prasad Pandey told ANI amid heavy police deployment outside his residence.
Earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that imposing restrictions was a failure of the BJP government. The SP chief said that the government should have restricted those who dreamt about starting riots and raised "frenzied" slogans.
"Imposing restrictions is a failure of the BJP government's governance, administration and its management. If the government had earlier restricted those who dreamed of causing riots and made people raise frenzied slogans, then the atmosphere of harmony and peace in Sambhal would not have been spoiled," Akhilesh Yadav posted on X.
Tensions in Sambhal had been simmering since the local court ordered a survey of the mosque on November 19. Opposing the court-ordered survey of the Jama Masjid people clashed with police, resulting in the deaths of four persons. The survey followed a petition filed by some persons in the local court, claiming that the site of the mosque was previously a Harihar temple. (ANI)