BHOPAL: While normalcy slowly returns to communal violence-hit Khargone town of Madhya Pradesh (resulting in curfew relaxation in two phases on Thursday), the cops have begun probing the possibility of an external hand, including the role of the Popular Front of India (PFI) behind the April 10 violence.
According to key police sources in Khargone, the possible role of PFI or its political wing the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in the Ram Navami procession violence is being probed.
The possible PFI and even banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) role behind the riots, which left over 30 people injured and dozens of houses burnt, is particularly being probed as PFI people from outside MP had visited Khargone multiple times before the Ram Navami festival.
Importantly, the PFI and its political wing members have also been visiting other districts adjoining Khargone, including Indore, Ujjain and Neemuch.
"All possible angles, including external hand and funding in the violence are being probed by police on multiple levels. So far 144 arrests have been made in 41 cases," the in-charge SP-Khargone Rohit Kashwani said on Thursday.
The state BJP president VD Sharma also alleged a PFI hand behind the April 10 communal violence in Khargone and Sendhwa towns of MP.
Meanwhile, opposition Congress MLA and ex-state minister PC Sharma said the police probing the possible role of PFI and SIMI like outfits in the communal violence, exposes that the violence happened due to intelligence failure.
While the Congress leader alleged intelligence failure to have caused the violence, information available with The New Indian Express suggests a different story.
As per highly placed state police sources, the Khargone district police just like other districts police forces had been alerted from Bhopal in advance for the Ram Navami festival along with the list of communally sensitive hotspots, where special security arrangements were to be made.
Almost ten days prior to Ram Navami, nearly all districts police and zonal police were shared from the state capital Bhopal, a list of sensitive hotspots along with security arrangements specifics for upcoming festivals.
In the case of Khargone, the sensitive hotspots whose list for special security arrangements was shared with local police from state police HQ included Talab Chowk (the genesis of Ram Navami procession violence), Guruwa Darwaza, Kalali Kuwan, Jhanda Chowk, Dhan Mandi Masjid and Kumhar Wadi localities.
"Special security arrangements ideally include three-layered security apparatus, including heavily armed police deployment in the innermost layer, rooftop deployment on high rise buildings in the second layer and mobile security systems on the outermost layer. Had such systems timely been put in place, even the attack on the Ram Navami procession in the communally sensitive Talab Chowk locality (which was the prime trigger of the widespread communal violence) might well be averted timely," an informed source in Bhopal confided.
Importantly, all the areas of Khargone where special security arrangements had been strictly advised were situated within a km and half from Talab Chowk area, the starting point of the violence.
According to sources in Khargone town, many violence-hit localities, including Bhatwari Mohalla, Bhavsar Mohalla and Pathanwadi were located close to the hotspots where special security arrangements were expected by top police brass of the state.