Rakhial PI shifted, to be probed for negligence

Ahmedabad: The inquiry into negligence by police inspector J D Dangarwala, for failing to assess the situation or prevent the riot that erupted on Tuesday night in Rakhial, has been handed to Deepan Bhadran, DCP, crime branch, sources in the police said. The city police commissioner initiated the probe after multiple police and private vehicles and an SRP outpost were torched in the riot at Morarji Chowk in Rakhial, an area then under Dangarwala's supervision.
The PI has been quickly shunted out from Rakhial police station to special branch.
Sources in the commissioner's office in Shahibaug said that Dangarwala was allegedly unable to gauge the volatile situation in Rakhial.
"The issue was being raised for a month as locals protested against the construction of a housing colony under the CM Awas Yojana at a plot near Morarji Chowk. He should have been alert to the situation," added a senior police official. Currently, there is a high court order to maintain the status quo on the land, issued in reponse to a petition by locals who claimed this was the only playground available to children in the locality.
Meanwhile, the city crime branch team probing the Rakhial violence has found the alleged involvement of 18 other people, besides those already arrested, in the violence which saw police vehicles torched and burning rags thrown at police, said a crime branch official.
"During primary interrogation of the accused who were remanded in two-day police custody, it emerged that some locals had collected donations to organize protests against the construction of the colony," added a crime branch official.
Crime branch sources said the names of a local leader and the son of a politician have emerged in the probe. "We will soon question them, as they were allegedly part of the mob that attacked the police party," said a crime branch official.
"A few months ago, the large Morarji Chowk maidan was the venue of the Milli Conference, which saw a large gathering of the Muslim community. This is the same ground which is shown as a playground for four schools in the vicinity. The ground is put to good public use and is central to community life ," says Saraspur resident Taufiq Pathan, a member of Morarji Chowk Hitrakshak Samiti (MCHS).
What worried the committee is that police lodged complaints against the MCHS committee members who moved the high court against planned use of the Morarji Chowk ground by Gujarat Housing Board for constructing EWS housing.