A day after “body parts of an animal” were found at the entrance of a temple in Rasoolabad village of Kannauj, leading to communal tension, the superintendent of police and district magistrate were removed and the station house officer of Talgram police station was suspended.
The police said that they were making efforts to arrest the accused. “Our teams are working and very soon we will be making the arrests,” Kanpur Range Inspector General of Police, Prashant Kumar (II), said.
“The situation is under control now and the area is under police surveillance,” said a senior officer.
Taking a serious note of the mishandling of the situation leading to communal tension in Kannauj, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath removed the district magistrate and the superintendent of police.
Kannauj DM Rakesh Mishra was shunted out and put on wait list a few hours after Superintendent of Police Rajesh Srivastava was removed.
Chitrakoot’s District Magistrate Shubhransh Shukla has been posted as the new district magistrate of Kannauj and Kunwar Anupam Singh as the new district police chief, confirmed an official communiqué released on Sunday.
The station house officer of Talgram has been suspended and Jitendra Pratap Singh posted in his place.
It may be recalled that communal clashes took place in Kannauj district after some unidentified miscreants allegedly threw pieces of meat in the compound of a village temple and desecrated idols at two places, which led to protests during which several shops were set on fire, police said.
The police added that the gate of a graveyard was also damaged in the violence that ensued.
According to police, the incident took place in Rasoolabad village in Talgram police station limits. The temple priest, Jagdish Chandra, found the pieces of meat inside the temple and informed the police about it. Circle Officer Shiv Pratap Singh and Station House Officer Hari Shyam Singh reached the spot and got the entire place cleaned. However, a mob gathered on the road, and accusing the police of remaining silent over the incident blocked the Talgram-Indergarh road. The blockade continued for three hours before the police managed to pacify the protestors. As the blockade was lifted, there was information that idols were desecrated at two places. The mob became angry and burnt four shops and entered a graveyard where they damaged its gate.
Late on Saturday evening, Inspector General of Police (Kanpur Range) Prashant Kumar (II) and Kanpur Divisional Commissioner Raj Shekhar also reached Talgram.
District Magistrate Rakesh Mishra said that two FIRs had been registered in connection with the incidents.
Meanwhile the government on Sunday also shifted 11 IPS and five IAS officers while removing the DM and SP of Kannauj.
The responsibility of ADG Technical Services has been given to IPS officer Mohit Agarwal. BK Maurya has been posted as DGP (Logistics) in Lucknow while Anupam Kulshrestha will join as ADG (Traffic and Road Safety).
Bhajani Ram Meena will be ADG (Rules and Manuals). SP in Sitapur PTC, Shafiq Ahmed, has been put on the waiting list. SP, PTS in Jalaun, Radhe Mohan Bhardwaj will now join as Commandant of 28th Battalion PAC in Etawah while Shalini will take over as Commandant of 41st PAC Battalion in Ghaziabad. Himanshu Kumar has been shifted as Commandant of 23rd Battalion PAC in Moradabad.
Abhishek Anand, who was Municipal Commissioner of Bareilly Municipal Corporation, has been posted as DM of Chitrakoot. Jagdish, Secretary, Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission) has been posted as Special Secretary (Excise). Khempal Singh has been made Secretary of UP Public Service Commission at Prayagraj. Till now he was posted as additional commissioner and additional registrar in the Cooperation Department.
IAS officer Nidhi Gupta Vats has been posted as municipal commissioner of Bareilly Municipal Corporation. Till now she was Special Secretary (Excise).