'Haryana violence is a big game plan,' says home minister Anil Vij

Chandigarh: Amidst escalating communal tensions in Haryana, Anil Vij the state home minister has commented, “It is a big game plan, every person had a lathi in their hand”. The minister raised questions about how and who distributed the weapons.

He also indicated the way bullets were fired from hillocks and stones collected on rooftops of buildings in Nuh violence was pre-planned.

The minister claimed, he was informed about Monday’s communal violence in Nuh only at 3 pm, hours after clashes first erupted during a religious procession, adding that senior administration functionaries and police officers were also not aware of the incident when he first spoke to them.

202 people have been arrested so far and 80 taken into preventive detention in connection with the communal clashes in Nuh, said Anil Vij. Police have so far filed 102 FIRs in the matter, he added.

However, in a press conference on Friday, the Nuh Superintendent of Police said they have so far found no indication of there being a mastermind behind the clashes. Nuh SP Narendra Singh Bijarnia said the investigation so far has suggested the involvement of disparate elements, which are being identified and arrested.

Meanwhile, when the minister was asked if the administration will resort to bulldozing the properties of the culprits, he quipped "bulldozer, wherever necessary, will be used. "Ilaj mein bulldozer bhi ek karavayi hai (bulldozer is part of the treatment)," he said. Haryana authorities have used bulldozers in the past to raze structures of alleged criminals in Nuh and other parts. 

Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the clashes that erupted in Muslim-dominated Nuh when a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was attacked by mobs on Monday.

Vij said police were recording people's statements and scanning CCTV footage.

He also urged the journalists who have been to Nuh to cover the clashes since Monday to provide videos and feeds to the authorities to help them investigate the clashes.

Referring to the Friday namaz, the minister said he has spoken to deputy commissioners of Nuh, Faridabad, and Gurugram, and instructed them to make adequate security arrangements.

(with PTI inputs)