BJP seeks probe into ISI role in Aurangabad riots

BJP seeks probe into ISI role in Aurangabad riots
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

AURANGABAD, DEC 8: Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde has said the judicial inquiry ordered by the State Government into Monday's rioting and lathi-charge here should also look into the involvement of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Munde, who visited the hospital yesterday to enquire about the health of around 40 injured people, including journalists, told reporters last night that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance would raise the issue during the winter session of the State Legislature, beginning next week at Nagpur.

The former Home minister also visited the families of police personnel and heard their complaints against demonstrators.

They told Munde and Sena Aurangabad Lok Sabha member Chandrakant Khaire that the demonstrators belonged to the Muslim Action Committee -- which was observing a `Black Day' to mark the seventh anniversary of the disputed Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya. ``They entered our houses, misbehaved, and also held outthreats'', the police personnel informed them.

Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal also visited the police colony and heard complaints from policemen's families.

Munde later announced that the BJP-Sena would give Rs 5,000 each as aid to those injured in the lathi-charge.

Scribes on fast
Aurangabad: Journalists from the district began a token fast before the police commissionerate here Wednesday morning in protest against Monday's police lathi-charge that left 40 people, including journalists, injured.

Journalists, affiliated to district Marathi Patrakar Parishad, Working Journalists' Association and Bharatiya Saptahik Vartapatra Sampadak Association joined the one-day protest.