Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh Saturday accused a BJP functionary of instigating violence in Jabalpur city, where the police were caught on video damaging parked vehicles after an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest.
The BJP, on the other hand, blamed Singh and the Congress for “spreading lies” through their claim that the incident of police personnel vandalising properties in Jabalpur, as seen in the video, had actually happened in Uttar Pradesh.
Taking to Twitter, Singh said, “I have come to know from Jabalpur that the whole incident where police is seen on video throwing stones and vandalising property in Muslim dominated areas, was instigated by a Muslim office bearer of BJP.”
Reacting to Singh’s tweet, state BJP spokesman Rajnish Agrawal said, “Initially, the Congress circulated the video of the police smashing car windows and vandalising properties at Jabalpur in Congress-ruled Madhya Pradesh, stating that it had happened in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.”
Even after the Uttar Pradesh police clarified that the video was from Jabalpur, the Congress leader continues to lie, he added.
The Madhya Pradesh government’s intelligence network is not working properly, Agarwal claimed, adding that it even transferred the police officers who controlled the violence in Jabalpur.
Following the violence, the state home department Friday transferred Jabalpur’s additional superintendent of police (city) Rajesh Kumar Tripathi and city superintendent of police (Gohalpur) Devesh Kumar Pathak to the Police Headquarters in Bhopal.
The video purportedly showing policemen damaging parked vehicles in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh surfaced on social media December 25. The video was shared on social media by some people alleging that the incident had taken place in Uttar Pradesh.
The Uttar Pradesh police’s Twitter handle (@UPPViralCheck) claimed that “the incident shown in the video is not related to @UPPolice, it is a video of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.”
After the video surfaced, Jabalpur’s superintendent of police Amit Singh had said the police will verify the authenticity of the video, whether it was doctored. The police have not received any complaint in this regard, the senior official had said.
Curfew was imposed in Gohalpur, Hanumantal, Kotwali and Adhartal areas of Jabalpur December 20 after miscreants indulged in stone pelting, clashed with the police and destroyed property during an anti-CAA protest.
PTI