Congress leaders protecting 'criminal' elements: Dhumal

Lashing out at the Himachal Pradesh government for deteriorating law and order in the state, former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today alleged that influential politicians of the ruling Congres party were giving protection to "criminal elements".
"The land, drug, forest and miningmafias are flourishing and plundering the natural resources with impunity," he said in a statement issued here.
"Police force is being used to target political opponents and has failed to maintain law and order and thecrime graph in the state has gone up," Dhumal said.
Dhumal alleged that the main task of the police has been confined to spying on politicians, phone tapping, implicating political opponents in false cases and unleashing repression.

While police "co-operated" with Congress workers in burning effigy of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the BJP workers have been booked for burning effigy of the chief minister, he said.
"Himachal has become a land of crime, women are living under terror with 283 reported cases of rape during last year. Five rape cases were being reported in a day in the recent past, 130 cases of murder and 1556 cases of theft and dacoity and 860 cases of abduction were reported during 2014," he claimed.
Dhumal said that not only the theft and dacoity cases have gone up, even temples and residence of chief minister had been burgled. It is glaring indication of worsening Law and Order situation, he added.