Rishikesh forest land survey protest turns violent, 6 arrested,  4 cases registered

PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun

Six people have been arrested so far in connection with the violence that erupted on Sunday during the Forest department’s forest land survey in Rishikesh. In view of tension palpable in the area, a police team has been deployed to stop escalation and maintain peace.

A police officer privy to the details of the case informed that four cases have been registered against eight identified accused and 500 to 600 unidentified persons in connection with the Rishikesh incident. A separate case has also been registered in connection with the alleged misbehaviour with a femalr ranger of the Forest department, he added.

Notably, the protesters squatted on the Mansa Devi railway track due to which several trains were delayed. The protesters also blocked the Haridwar Bypass road and pelted stones at police personnel deployed.

The police said they have started the process to identify those involved in stone pelting targeting the police personnel present.    Police have released some photographs and a phone number 9411112815, asking people to inform police if the accused are identified.

The identified accused include Mohan Singh Aswal, Virendra Ramola, Vinod Nath, Himanshu Panwar, Lalmani  Ratudi, Nirmala Uniyal, Usha Chauhan and Sachin Rawat.

As per a written complaint, a female ranger of the Forest department, who had reached the site at Gumaniwala on December 27 for the survey, was misbehaved with and stopped from carrying out her assigned work.   The complaint further said that the protesters had pushed and assaulted the team, abused them verbally and misbehaved with the female ranger. Based on this complaint, a case has been registered and police are currently working to identify the accused.