Probing if violence was pre-planned: Nagpur Police Commissioner

India Today

Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravinder Singal discusses the recent communal clashes in the city.

Transcript

00:00Let's first go to the top cop of Nagpur. Joining me now, Ravindra Singhal joins me.

00:04Appreciate, sir, you're joining me. What triggered the violence on Monday

00:09that has left many of your police personnel injured? First of all, my sympathies with you

00:13and the police force, but there was arson and stone pelting in the city.

00:17What, according to you, led to this sudden spurt in violence?

00:21Yeah, because this was a sudden incident, which we see. And when the two communities,

00:31they came in front of each other, because that area is a busy area and a crowded area.

00:36It's a mixed locality. So and because the festival is going on of both the communities,

00:43because yesterday there was a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti also. So people were there and

00:49they came in front of each other. And but our police was there. They were able to separate

00:54them. But stone pelting started after some time. And because police was there, they were ahead,

01:03I mean, in between both the communities and they were separated. And we faced the brunt in which

01:10our 34 people or the personnel, police personnel, they got injured.

01:15Mr. Singhal, it is being reported that there were some videos that were being shared on WhatsApp,

01:21which showed a chadar with allegedly with Quranic verses being targeted.

01:26How true are these claims or what are the rumors that led to this violence?

01:33See, it is not, I can't confirm it because it was there and what was exactly written on it,

01:40whether it was written or not, this we have to see because our officer who was there,

01:46the police inspector, he was he intervened and he was able to stop them. And this is

01:55with this you can see on social media also. And if there were some verses written on it,

02:01that also it cannot be confirmed. Till now, the officer says that he didn't see that.

02:08And if, but yes, the color they saw was a particular color, which people are objecting.

02:16But the point is that this was shown in the social media and that spread the rumors

02:22and that later on created a mess and they had the scuffle.

02:29You know, Mr. Singhal, it was known that the Bajrang Dal and the BHP are going to hold statewide

02:33protests seeking the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb. Did the police fail to judge the potential for

02:40tension on the ground being caused, especially given that this agitation over Aurangzeb has

02:45been going on for a few weeks now in Maharashtra? You see, I can't say that we failed in our

02:54assessment because our force was there. Yes, this has happened. The stone pelting occurred

03:02and there was some arson also, but that was, I mean, emergent and there, because our staff

03:12was there, we were able to contain this only to a particular area and our staff was there and

03:19the whole thing was brought under control. And since the incident that happened, there's no

03:25issue till now and we have also imposed the curfew in those two particular areas and rest

03:32of the city is doing very well and there is no issue at the moment. But Mr. Singhal, three senior

03:40police officers among those injured, DCP Niketan Kadam has suffered serious injuries, I'm told.

03:46Have those behind those attacks on the policemen, as the Home Minister or the Chief Minister,

03:51who's also Home Minister said, have any of them been arrested?

03:54Is there, was there a targeted attack related to the violence on these police officers?

04:02Yes, of course, because all of us were there and Niketan Kadam was also there on the field with me.

04:08So, as the officers were moving inside the by-lanes to apprehend the public who was involved

04:17in this riot, so his team and he, they went inside to catch those miscreants and in one of

04:26the incidents when they were coming back, he was attacked by an axe, so he stopped it and he has

04:33got a cut on his palm. Sir, the Chief Minister today in the Assembly expressed the fear that

04:40this could have been a pre-planned conspiracy. Does anything in your probe so far indicate a

04:45conspiracy or was this simply an action and reaction process on the ground?

04:51You see, these things are being checked because they have to be verified and this is what we are

04:58doing because social media shows that the rumours were being floated and this is what we are able to

05:06see till now and accordingly, we are also trying to verify all these facts and those who are

05:13involved into this, those who were spreading the rumours and if they had any plans to create this

05:20mess, all this is being studied well so that I can answer to your question properly.

05:27One more question, Mr. Police Commissioner. We have seen footage of stones being collected from

05:31the site of violence. Does the presence of stones indicate as is being suggested that

05:36all of this was planned in some way? Some witnesses are claiming that there were rioters

05:40with sticks and swords, so clearly well prepared and well armed.

05:47If you see in the videos, there is not even a single video which will show that people had

05:54brought these stones because as I mentioned, our police was there and the crowd was separated. I

06:00was myself present there. So they were separated because the stones were there as the construction

06:06activities are going there. They used those stones and secondly, the vehicle which you can

06:12see in the videos written NMC because all these stones which were lying there, they were cleared

06:20after the incident so that there is no further escalation in the situation. So all those

06:28stones were the ones which you see were removed from the site.

06:32One final question. Would you say the situation though is completely under control? Has there

06:37been any dialogue with local community leaders to ensure peace and normalcy?

06:43So at the moment, our aim is to bring peace. That's what we are doing. That's why we have

06:48imposed the curfew in these two particular areas and the areas which can be affected.

06:55That is why I feel that the community dialogue will start once we are able to bring the situation

07:08to full normalcy and maybe by today evening or maybe by tomorrow. This is what we are looking

07:15for. Mr. Singhal, for sparing the time when I know you've got a lot on your mind, I appreciate

07:20you joining us and giving us what you believe has happened there on the ground. Mr. Singhal,

07:26Ravindra Kumar Singhal is the Police Commissioner of Nagpur.

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