Jhanwar's supporters create a ruckus, lathicharged

BIKANER: Police carried out a lathicharge on the supporters of independent candidate Kanhaiya Lal Jhanwar when they became aggressive and started a ruckus in front of police station at Nokha on Friday. This happened in the presence of the district collector and the superintendent of police.
Jhanwar and his supporters had heard reports that said some of the voters had been deleted from the voter list and he was assuming these people to be his supporters.So, he and a large number of his supporters went to the SDM's office to oppose this deletion. Soon, the opposition turned on hot arguments and the situation went beyond control.
Jhanwar presented numerous voters with ID cards before district collector and district election officer Arti Dogra, who was in Nokha to inspect of election arrangements along-with SP Hari Prasad Sharma, and asked her to intervene in the matter. Collector Dogra asked him to meet her in the office of SDM. Jhanwar and his supporters went to SDM office and staged a dharna there. Collector Dogra, instead of going to the SDM's office, went to the police station of Nokha. When the party workers got to know, they went to the police station and started the agitation. Collector Dogra asked them to send a delegation of five persons, accordingly Narayan Jhanwar (son of K L Jhanwar) and four other persons went inside the police station and had a talk with her, but returned without any satisfaction.
When the people waiting outside came to know that their names are not being included in the voter list, they became aggressive and started shouting. SP Sharma tried to control the situation but his efforts went in vain. Since the situation was going out of control, he ordered a lathicharge and according to eye witness, SP Hari Prasad Sharma also took a lathi in his hands and started beating people.
Distt. Collector Arti Dogra told TOI that she convinced Narayan Jhanwar and others that the matter relating to the deletion of names is pending for consideration before the court and it will be dealt with according to the court judgment. Collector Dogra denied reports of lathicharge, but admitted normal police action to disburse the gathering of people from the premises of police station.
Kanhaiya Lal Jhanwar told TOI that the matter of inclusion of names in the voter list is pending before the court of district collector herself and instead of deciding it fast, she is keeping it pending so that the affected people do not approach the high court. Jhanwar alleged that district administration in connivance with some influential political leaders is conspiring to delete the names of his supporters. Jhanwar added that a total of 5000 names have been deleted from the voter list.
Meanwhile, Nokha police has registered the case u/s 151 of IPC and has arrested three relatives of K L Jhanwar namely Keshav, Vijay and Raju for creating obstacles in execution of government duty.