Hardwar: BJP wants Tiwari out

A team of BJP members in Hardwar to probe the police firing on April 20 has demanded ‘‘immediate resignation’’ of Uttara...

A team of BJP members in Hardwar to probe the police firing on April 20 has demanded ‘‘immediate resignation’’ of Uttaranchal Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari as the incident marked ‘‘complete collapse of authority’’. The team, led by Rajya Sabha member Balbir Punj, which visited Hardwar yesterday, said Tiwari must put in his papers, owning moral responsibility for the incident.

Curfew was imposed in parts of Varanasi on Wednesday after clashes broke out between members of the trading community and police personnel following allegations of molestation against the latter. One person was killed in police firing earlier. Tiwari has ordered a judicial probe by a sitting high court judge.

The demand from the BJP came as curfew was lifted in Kotwali this morning. ‘‘Curfew was finally lifted at 7 am after a complete review of the situation which was found to be completely normal,’’ DGP P.D. Raturi said.

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The team also demanded immediate suspension of Mela Officer U.K. Singh and Mela Police DIG P.K. Joshi. It demanded that murder cases be registered against the police personnel who opened fire on the people without a magisterial order.

The report said trouble was sparked off when three personnel of the Mela Police — Anuj Kumar, Ambrej Kumar and Ram Kumar — molested the wife of a businessman. People herded them to Kotwali, where they were placed under arrest.

Thereafter, the team said that 600-700 Mela Police personnel ransacked shops and attacked people with lathis and opened fire, killing one and injuring several others.DIG Ashok Kumar of the local police was also roughed up when he tried to save a journalist, the report said.