Hyderabad, June 02: Director General of Police RR Girish Kumar today claimed that 300 police personnel were present in and around the Mahabubabad railway station on May 28, the day violence broke out following the visit of Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy but appeared at a loss to explain why these many men could not prevent trouble, or at least gain control over the situation quickly.
The State police chief further dismissed reports about police failure in the whole episode and took pains to explain the tight security measures were taken by his department ever since Jagan Mohan Reddy stepped out of his house for the `Odarpu Yatra’. He said that the state CID chief A Sivanarayana had started for Mahabubabad and once he submits his report, all the facts would come to light.
Hours after Jagan accused the state government for its poor handling of the situation, the state police chief hurriedly called for a press conference and gave a blowbyblow account of the sequence of events that unfolded that day, ever since the young MP set off on his tour in the morning.
Defending his department, Girish Kumar said that at no point of time they wanted the MP to call off his tour and on the contrary had made tight security arrangements at all railway stations the train was to pass by and the roads where he was supposed to travel to meet the families.
Stating that the bandobust was massive, much more than what was provided to him during his earlier visits to various districts, Girish Kumar said that since the MP is a Z category protectee and faced threat from various quarters including Maoists, antiNaxal forces too were deployed as part of his security.
“All precautionary measures were taken but despite that the incident at Mahabubabad happened. Over 300 persons were taken into preventive custody,” the DGP said.
To a volley of questions as to why 300 policemen failed to prevent violence at the railway station, who opened fire first and that there was not a single checkpost leading to the railway station and all this indicated police failure, the DGP said that all these aspects would come to light once the CID chief submits his report.
When told that everything was clearly visible in the video footages aired by different channels and that not a single policeman could be seen at the railway station or taking any preventive action, Girish Kumar remarked that the media always focusses where ever “action” is there.
“Besides the TV angle, we want to see whether there are other angles and that is the reason the CID chief has been asked to personally visit the spot. He will also see if there is any deficiency in police action,” he said.
Girish Kumar, however, said that there was confusion as to who opened fire. Asked why Jagan was not prevented from taking up his tour, Girish Kumar said that he had the democratic right to take up the tour. “The Chief Minister and Home Minister too gave clearance for his tour and therefore we had additional security in place. The decision (to allow him to take up the tour) was a painful one,” he said.
Girish Kumar said that only after the situation turned violent, they realised that it was not safe for him to continue with the tour and was therefore taken into custody.
—Agencies