Mathura violence: HC to hear PILs seeking CBI probe on daily

Expressing dissatisfaction with investigation into the Jawahar Bagh case of Mathura, wherein more than 20 people including two police officials were killed during eviction of squatters from the public park, the Allahabad High Court today decided to hear on a daily basis a bunch of PILs seeking CBI probe into the matter.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice D B Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Verma ordered that PILs filed by Ashwini Upadhyay, Vijay Pal Tomar and others be heard on a day-to-day basis from Tuesday onwards.
Upadhyay is a Supreme Court advocate and spokesman of the BJP's Delhi unit while Tomar is a resident of Mathura on whose earlier petition the court had ordered the eviction of the sprawling public park which had remained under illegal occupation for more than two years.

Today, it was alleged by Upadhyay's counsel Rajiv Lochan Shukla that the commission of inquiry set up by Uttar Pradesh government and comprising a retired judge of the high court has been an "eyewash" as so far it has not been ascertained whether Ram Vriksh Yadav - the cult leader under whose leadership the squatters had been occupying the public park - was dead or alive.
Yadav, known to be close to top leaders of the ruling Samajwadi Party in the state, was said to have been killed in the violence that had erupted during the eviction drive last June.

However, many of his followers claim that he was still alive.

Shukla alleged that DNA samples of Yadav collected from the site of the clash had not yet been matched with his children, which was countered by the state's Additional Advocate General Imran Ullah who claimed that forensic experts had visited the cult leader's house in Ghazipur district but it was locked.
Shukla also alleged that call details of the mobile phones of Yadav and Mukul Dwivedi - a Superintendent of Police who was killed in the clash - were yet to be examined by the investigators.
The Additional AG pleaded that the matter be deferred to a later date since the Advocate General, who has so far been appearing on behalf of the state government, was out of station.

The court remarked that the state government "appears incapable of carrying out investigation effectively", and ordered that the Advocate General's presence be ensured on November 17 when hearing on the PIL will resume and proceed thereafter on a day-to-day basis.