4 held for Phagwara clash

Our Correspondent

Phagwara, April 15

In the wake of clashes between two communities in the town, the police on Sunday arrested four Hindu leaders — Shiv Sena (Bal Thakrey) state vice-president Inderjit Karwal, Shiv Sena national president Shivi Batta, Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha leader Rajiv Chahal and Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Suraksha Samiti state president Deepak Bhardwaj.

Phagwara city SHO Gurmeet Singh Sidhu said the arrested leaders were produced in a local court, which sent them to judicial custody for 14 days. He said arms licences issued to the four leaders had been cancelled.

The police had registered cases against more than 300 persons of both communities, including 33 by name on Saturday. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Tayab and SSP Sandeep Sharma are camping at Phagwara to monitor the situation.

They said the administration would pay the medical bill to the DMC, Ludhiana, for the treatment of Yaswant Kumar, who was injured in the clash.

Tayab said the District Kapurthala Red Cross Committee had handed over a cheque for Rs 1.25 lakh to Johal Hospital, Rama Mandi, for the treatment of another injured person, Kulwinder.

No mobile internet till evening today

Chandigarh: The state government has extended the suspension of mobile internet services in four districts till Monday evening. The services have been suspended in the wake of a clash between two communities in Phagwara. A spokesperson said all SMS services as well as dongle services, except voice calls, in the territorial jurisdiction of four districts — Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and SBS Nagar — had been suspended as a precautionary measure. He said all telecom services providers had been directed to ensure compliance of this order. TNS