An attempt by families of policemen to encircle the Chief Minister’s official residence was foiled on Monday with elaborate security arrangements made by District Administration well in advance.
Senior police officials managed to persuade family members of policemen — some 400 in numbers, who had assembled at the Idgah dharna site to disperse although not without a warning not to repeat the act of agitating in future.
The family members of policemen to hide their identity had masked themselves to avoid getting identified by policemen on duty.
The members of two political parties which supported the agitation of the families of policemen included the Congress party and Janata Congress Jogi (JCJ) Chhattisgarh who were court arrested by policemen while they were on way to Idgah Bhata ground to extend their support to the protesters.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Raipur Range, Pradeep Gupta while talking to The Pioneer claimed that only 70 persons assembled at the Idgah Bhata ground and they too were sent back after being advised not to repeat the act of staging dharna again.
Another group of 35 persons who were found to be ‘hired’ to participate in the agitation and were found not to be from the family members of policemen too had reached the dharna site from where they were dispersed after being warned, he said.
Around 125 members of political parties were court arrested under various preventive sections who were trying to reach the dharna site to extend support, the IGP informed.
The agitators were told that as per the provisions of law they didn’t have right to make such a protest and they agreed that they will not repeat the act again. Only 70 family members of 70,000 policemen from all over the State came to register protest and it was a success to stop the agitation as we (police) were being able to counsel them, he said.