Congress workers hurt in clash with police, probe ordered

A number of people including some police personnel, were injured when Congress workers protesting against city mayor here today clashed with the police after after which cops allegedly cane charged them.

The alleged cane charging prompted the sub-divisional magistrate to order a probe into the incident, a senior police officer said.

"The Mayor, Abhay Dare has created an artificial water crisis in Sagar so that he can get additional funds, whereas reality is that the water scarcity is manageable," claimed Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee's Sagar division Spokesman, Sandeep Sablok.

As part of the protest, the Congress workers, led by Sagar district unit party president Rekha Choudhry and the opposition leader in the local civic body Ajay Parmar started a demonstration carrying empty water pots outside the Municipal Corporation office.

However, as the Congress workers started breaking the pots as part of the protest, the police without any provocation cane-charged them causing injuries to nearly three dozen party workers, Sablok alleged.

However, police denied any cane-charging, saying they only used mild force to restore order.

"Police used only mild force against the protesters. We have not can-charged them. Nearly half a dozen policemen also sustained injuries in the incident. The allegations of Congress will be proved wrong in the magisterial probe that was ordered by the sub-divisional magistrate," said City Superintendent of Police Gautam Solanki.

Sablok, who got six stitches on his head, claimed that 16 Congress cadres were admitted in the district hospital while around 36 party workers, including six women, suffered injuries in the incident.

Pradesh Congress Committee president Arun Yadav constituted a five-member committee comprising senior party leaders Prabhu Singh Thakur, Brajendra Singh Rathore, MLAs Harsh Yadav, Nishank Jain and Pratap Singh to probe the incident and submit a report.