Kosi Kalan (Mathura) riots: 171 including BSP MLC named in the FIR

Lucknow: A total of 171 people have been named in the FIRs lodged related to Kosi Kalan riots in Mathura district. The named people include former agriculture minister in BSP regime Choudhary Luxmi Narain, his brother and BSP MLC Choudhary Lekhraj Singh and MLC's son Nardev Singh.

Besides this 1220 unknown people have also been named in the FIRs. Police is conducting raids to arrest the accused named in the FIRs.

The riots in Kosi Kalan claimed four lives officially namely Salahuddin, Kallu and Bhura (both twins) and Sonu Saini. Kallu and Bhura's brother Saleem named the former minister CH Luxmi Narain Singh and his family members in his FIR. A total of 54 people have been named in the FIR based on Saleem's FIR. No arrests have been made so far.

Meanwhile, MLC Choudhary Lekhraj Singh claimed that he is innocent. "I was attending the Vidhan Parishad when the rioting took place. My family has a history of Hindu-Muslim unity and I have been falsely implicated in the FIR," he said.

Cabinet Minister Azam Khan on the other hand maintained that things will be clear after investigation. "Let there be inquiry we have nothing to hide," he said. Khan however did not term the riots as government failure. "It was failure of some district officials and not the government. Both DM and SP have been shifted. It is sad incident," he said.

Regarding the reason for the riot, Khan claimed that both sides are losing patience and they have little tolerance level.

On Tuesday, the curfew was relaxed from 9 am to 5 pm and no untoward incident occurred.

State government has announced a compensation of Rs five lakh each to the kins of the deceased and Rs 50000 to the injured. Revenue minister Ambika Choudhary announced on Tuesday that the compensation has been paid to all the victims.

Source: Two Circles