Badaun (Uttar Pradesh):
In Akhilesh Yadav's Uttar Pradesh, a mob, allegedly part of the oil mafia, tried to set a government official in Badaun on fire yesterday. The district supply officer, Neeraj Singh, was raiding a ration shop to check on alleged kerosene hoarding when he was attacked.
A case of attempt to murder has been registered against over 60 people, 26 of whom have been named in the FIR. Two people have been arrested.
Mr Singh had led a team of 10 people to the shop of a man called Girish Chandra, a resident of Dehgawan village, who was allegedly hoarding kerosene.
When the supply officer sealed kerosene barrels at the shop, Girish Chandra and his men broke the seals and allegedly attacked the supply officer and his team, smashing the window panes of his car, dousing it with kerosene, with Mr Singh inside, and then attempting to set it on fire.
Mr Singh said the men tried to set the car aflame twice but failed. "I was informed over the phone that large scale black marketing of kerosene was being done. We went with a team of 10 people and sealed drums of kerosene. They broke the seals. They then surrounded my vehicle and broke the windows of the car. And tried to set me and my car on fire. We have got a case registered under the Zarifnagar police station. My staff is local and will be able to identify the people. We had gone to conduct a raid on the shop of Girish Chandra Gupta," he said.
(With Inputs from PTI)