'Centre ready for CBI probe into Mathura violence if UP wants'

The Centre is ready to order a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Mathura violence if the Uttar Pradesh government seeks it, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday even as he questioned how the state government was unaware of land grab by thousands of people.

“Thousands of people had grabbed land in Mathura and the state government was unaware,” he said while addressing a rally in Mau as he referred to the action of a so-called organisation ‘Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrah’ which had occupied hundreds of acres of government land for two years.

When police went to clear the occupied land last week following an order of the Allahabad high court, activists of the organisation indulged in large-scale violence, including firing, in which the Mathura superintendent of police and a station house officer were killed, along with 27 others.

“If the state government demands a CBI probe, we are ready for it,” Singh said at a rally organised to highlight the schemes of the two-year-old Narendra Modi government.

Later, when asked to comment on the state government’s claim about presence of Naxals in Mathura, the Union home minister told reporters in Lucknow, “We have no information about the presence of Naxalites in Mathura...I have yet to go into the report sent by the state government.”

Singh also asked the UP government to show more alacrity in implementing the central government schemes, a comment that comes close on the heels of Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah alleging that the state government was creating roadblocks in this endeavour.

“The Uttar Pradesh government needs to show more alacrity in implementing central government schemes,” Singh said.

To state government’s allegations of Centre not extending support to Uttar Pradesh, Singh said these were wrong.

“Whatever suport is sought is extended to Uttar Pradesh,” the Union minister said.

On Tuesday, Shah had alleged that the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh was creating roadblocks for execution of several welfare schemes initiated by the Centre and this is the reason why benefits were not reaching the intended beneficiaries in the state.

Replying to the allegations levelled by SP leaders that his relatives had tried to disturb the atmosphere in Bishara village in Greater Noida where they were conspiring to hold a mahapanchayat, Singh said ‘they can call for an inquiry into it. Whosoever had tried to do it should be put behind bars’.

SP leaders Ambika Chaudhary had made an allegation in this regard earlier this month.