'House for sale' signs seen in Shamli; police claim 'conspiracy'

'This house for sale' was seen written on the walls of houses belonging to members of a minority community, who have claimed that the state police is not conducting a fair investigation with regard to a recent scuffle that broke out in the city.

Local residentsresident have claimed that members of only one community were being targeted by the police - a claim officials have rubbished. Residents have also claimed that they are planning to leave the city.

However, the police termed this as a conspiracy to evade the investigation into an incident which took place last month.

"On June 6, there was a clash between two youth. After that, the police went to the spot. An accused was taken away by a mob from police protection. We had registered two cases. In one case, 3 names were registered while in another case 10 were named," Superintendent of Police (SP) Ajay Kumar told reporters here on Monday.

 

"The police omitted six names as they were not found guilty. The police have also identified seven people using CCTV footage. 11 people have been sent behind bars. Besides them, all were found innocent," he added.

Kumar denied any claims of migration but said that the police got to know about 'This house is for sale' phrase being written on walls of some houses.

"A person named Shahjad said his innocent child has been sent to imprisonment. We are investigating the case without discrimination. There is no one migrating from here. We have removed writing 'Yeh Makaan Bikau hai' (This house is for sale) but if we find it again, it will be understood that someone is doing this intentionally to disturb the peace here," he said.

A local resident alleged that police has removed wall writings and also threatened him.

"No one is listening to us. The police is also threatening us. If we don't get justice, we will sell our houses. Two families have already left their houses," a woman from Shamli said.

Another resident said, "We have written about migration on walls. Police officials removed it. They took my phone and also insulted my father. We are ready to sell our house and go away. We are poor people and cannot go afford to stay in a rented house.