Opposition blame the policeSamajwadi Party MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq, who was named in an FIR for allegedly “instigating” stone pelting during the protests has denied the accusations, claiming he was out of town at the time of the incident.Barq, who represents Sambhal in Parliament, told news agency ANI that he was in Bengaluru attending a meeting of the India Muslim Personal Law Board and had no presence in Sambhal during the violence.Congress MP representing Saharanpur constituency, Imran Masood reportedly demanded a murder case to be registered against the police for firing at the protesters.A delegation led by leader of the opposition in the UP assembly Mata Prasad Pandey had planned to visit Sambhal on Tuesday but was asked not to by the top cops considering the situation prevailing in Sambhal. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had constituted the delegation to visit Sambhal and report to him about the violence.Zafar Ali, who is head of the mosque committee, who was present during the survey was questioned by the police on Monday and his mobile phone was seized after a press meet in which he blamed the administration for the violence.“I saw that the police were firing bullets. It happened right in front of me. There was no bullet fired from the public in my presence,” Ali was quoted as saying by some reports while the police claimed that the post-mortem reports showed that the people were killed due to gunshot wounds fired at with country-made weapons.Ali also alleged, according to a report, that the police were carrying country-made weapons during the incident and that they vandalised and torched their own vehicles parked near the mosque. “Police were also carrying desi kattas. Why will they [protestors] kill each other ? If they had to fire, they would have fired at the police and not the public. This is something to think about,” said Ali.In his press conference, Ali also said the incident was triggered after a rumour spread that the survey team had started excavation at the mosque. The rumour was spread after the ablution tank in the mosque was emptied for measurements giving people the impression that digging was going on, he said, adding that although an announcement was made clarifying this, believers held on to the rumour.Ali said that the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) and circle officer (CO) police Sambhal were to blame for instigating the crowd to turn violent.Superintendent of Police Sambhal Krishan Kumar Bishnoi has denied the allegations that the police shot the protestors.
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