Angry over being denied unrestricted access to a sacred pond where an 18-year-old boy had drowned just a day before, a group of sadhus at the Guru Purnima fair in Mathura on Tuesday clashed with the police for over an hour, fuelling fears of a stampede at the venue where over 70 lakh pilgrims had assembled for the ritual of parikrama of the Giriraj Parvat.

Trouble broke out when the police stopped some sadhus from moving towards the danger mark in the Mansi Ganga pond for taking bath.

Enraged, the group of sadhus damaged the barricading erected around the pond and attacked and seriously injured a deputy SP, besides fighting a pitched battle with the policemen for over an hour.

“The group of sadhus was under influence of drugs (ganja) when they got into a heated exchange with the police team deployed around the barricading in the pond. The sadhus insisted on taking bath at the unsafe point in the pond while the policemen stopped them,” said Mathura SSP BD Paulson.

According to the SSP, the sadhus then damaged the barricading. Circle Officer (Sadar) Ashutosh Dwivedi rushed to the scene and tried to pacify the angry sadhus. “But the sadhus attacked the CO with sticks causing him head injuries and started throwing stones at other policemen,” Paulson added.

Later, the district magistrate and the SSP rushed to the scene and the policemen had to apply force on sadhus to disperse them. The injured CO was admitted to a hospital in Agra where his condition was said to be stable.

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