BHOPAL: In a major goof-up, the Madhya Pradesh Police has booked three men in connection with rioting in Sendhwa town of Barwani district on April 10 even as they have been in jail for over a month after their arrest in a case of attempt to murder.
The trio — Shahbaz, Rauf and Faqhru — were booked on April 11 for setting a motorcycle and scooter ablaze near a mosque in Sendhwa on the day communal violence erupted in the town following an attack on the Ram Navami procession. They were booked under IPC Section 435 (Mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage to an amount of Rs 100 or upwards).
Shahbaz’s mother Saqeena Bi spoke told this newspaper, “How can my son, who has already been in jail for a month, come out and set a motorbike ablaze? We told police that, but they didn’t listen to us. They even picked up Shahbaz’s cousin Golu two days back for communal violence and haven’t released him despite our pleas that he was in no way involved in any crime. Our house too has been partially demolished by the authorities, without serving us any prior notice of it being illegal.”
The three men are already accused in multiple crime cases. While Shahbaz was accused in five cases, including murder and kidnapping in Sendhwa and adjoining Maharashtra, Faqhru and Rauf are accused in two and four criminal cases, respectively.
Meanwhile, curfew was relaxed for two hours each on Friday morning and evening — from 10 am to 12 noon and from 3 pm to 5 pm — in Khargone as the situation was normal, officials said.
Special team to trace missing woman
A woman has gone missing amid the Ram Navami violence that took place in Khargone in MP on April 10, with a top police official stating on Friday that a special team had been formed to trace her. She had gone in search of her children who were in the vicinity of the procession, soon after word trickled in of the event being marred by stone-pelting and arson, her relatives said.