Massacre anniversary: UP Cong chief, workers held on way to Sonbhadra village, released

A Congress release said Lallu was stopped in Bhadohi and several party workers at the Mirzapur toll plaza while going to Umbha village to pay homage to those killed in the massacre last year. Though Lallu and the workers were released in the evening, police said they have lodged a case for the violation of prohibitory orders against 75 partymen, including the state Congress chief.

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu was taken into custody while on his way to Sonbhadra’s Umbha village to mark the first anniversary of the killing of Gond tribals over a land dispute. A Congress release said Lallu was stopped in Bhadohi and several party workers at the Mirzapur toll plaza while going to Umbha village to pay homage to those killed in the massacre last year. Though Lallu and the workers were released in the evening, police said they have lodged a case for the violation of prohibitory orders against 75 partymen, including the state Congress chief. Bhadohi Superintendent of Police Ram Badan said Lallu was earlier asked to return because of the prohibitory orders as he was going to the village without permission. Lallu and his four associates were stopped at a guest house in Bhadohi's Gopiganj. They were taken to a Sitamarhi guest house from there, the SP said. The SP said Lallu was released around 6 pm and he left for Basti. "Seventy-five people, including Lallu, have been booked for violating prohibitory orders and under the Epidemic Diseases Act. An FIR in this connection was lodged at the Koirana police station," the SP added. The Umbha village head and his henchmen had gunned down 10 Gond tribals in Ghorwal tehsil of Sonbhadra district last year in a bid to divest them of control over some land. Twenty-nine others were injured in the firing. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too was detained last year while she was on her way to meet the relatives of those killed in the firing due to the imposition of Section 144 of the CrPC in the area. In a statement issued from Bhadohi on Thursday, Lallu said the Congress has decided to observe July 16 as Martyrs' Day as a mark of respect to those who killed while protecting their ancestral land.

He alleged that the Yogi Adityanath government was not able to check deteriorating law and order situation but it is out to "suppress" the Congress Party and its leaders who are raising issues of the Dalits and Adivasis of the state. The UPCC chief alleged that the voice of the opposition leaders is being "suppressed by using police.