Five killed in Haldwani violence, curfew clamped
PrashantNews
Five people were killed and many injured in clashes with the police in parts of Haldwani town of Nainital district on Thursday night after tension mounted over the demolition of illegal religious structures under the court orders.
Shoot at sight orders were issued and curfew was imposed in Banbhulpura and other parts of Haldwani as the people belonging to a particular community pelted stones and indulged in arson and violence.
Five people were killed and many injured in the violence, a government official said on Friday.
District Magistrate Nainital Vandana Singh said the Banbhulpura police station was also torched at a time when several police and other officials were present inside. Vandana said the mob-attack on the police personnel and Haldwani Nagar Nigam officials was totally unprovoked and in a planned way. “They assembled stones on their rooftops and pelted stones on our police and later launched attack with petrol bombs. The teams had gone there to implement the High Court’s orders,” she said.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a high level meeting at his residence in which Chief Secretary Radha Raturi and DGP Abhinav Kumar along with other top officials took stock of the situation in Haldwani.
“The situation is right now under control,” the DGP said after the meeting.
Chief Minister has instructed the top officials of Nainital to deal firmly with the situation and take adequate steps to normalize the situation.
Police sources said several policemen were injured in the stone pelting incidents. There were some incidents of arson in the area also.
The Chief Minister said the situation became tense after some unruly people pelted stones when the illegal constructions in the area. Central and additional police force is being deployed in the area in view of the tense situation.
The Chief Minister appealed to the people to maintain peace in the area. As precautionary measure, curfew has been imposed in the area, Dhami said.
Dhami said stern action will be taken against all those people who indulged in the violence.