Hindu Mahasabha calls for bandh in Rajasthan town over disputed site

More than 40 protesters were arrested and 600 were rounded up after violence unleashed in Bundi town of Rajasthan by right wing activists over a disputed site, police said on Tuesday, even as the Hindu Mahasabha has called for a bandh there.

Meanwhile, Kota Range IG Vishal Bansal was in Bundi on Tuesday to monitor the situation. Bansal reached Bundi after the situation worsened.

Internet services in the town remained suspended on Tuesday in the wake of violence which erupted in the town on Monday. Section 144 is also being maintained in the town till further orders.

The Hindu Mahasabha has called for a bandh in the town on Tuesday to protest "police atrocities" on its members.

Speaking to IANS, a senior police officer informed that 41 protesters have been arrested so far while around 600 protesters have been rounded up since Monday over the violence.

MP O.M. Birla also visited the location to monitor the situation and said that peace should be maintained in the town.

Hindu organisations have called for a pooja on a disputed site in Mandhata situated chhatri on Tiger Hills. They had decided to take out a religious procession in the town on Monday. However, the district administration, to maintain peace and avert any untoward incident, clamped section 144 in the town.

Flouting section 144, thousands of members of Hindu Mahasabha marched to the disputed site, forcing police to resort to lathicharge which left many people, including BJP workers, injured.

Chander Prakash Kaushik, president, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, speaking to IANS, criticised the lathicharge by police and accused the BJP government of "working with vote bank interest".

--IANS

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