Funeral of protester who died in custody held amid tight security
1 Sept 2015 4:21 AM IST
The funeral procession of Swetang Patel started from his house in Matrushakti Society of Bapunagar area at around 8.25 AM. Initially, around 300 locals and relatives joined the procession, including <g data-gr-id="47">Swetang's</g> mother Prabhaben and his sister Palak.
Before the funeral procession started, former state Home Minister and senior BJP leader Gordhan Jhadafia met <g data-gr-id="46">Swetang's</g> family at his house and conveyed condolences. Local MLA Vallabh Kakadia along with some leaders and corporators also remained present during the procession.
To avoid any untoward situation, around 600 personnel from local police, State Reserve Police (SRP), Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been stationed along the 1-km route from <g data-gr-id="42">Swetang's</g> house till the crematorium in Lila Nagar area, Bapunagar police inspector K D <g data-gr-id="43">Nakum</g> said.
Since early morning, senior police officers including Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Manoj Shashidharan, Deputy CP Shweta Shrimali and Assistant CP K D Pandya along with their staff arrived at Bapunagar and supervised the arrangements.
Hardik Patel, the convener of Patidar <g data-gr-id="44">Anamat</g> Andolan Samiti, who earlier said that he will remain present during the last rites of <g data-gr-id="45">Swetang</g>, did not turn up on Sunday as he flew to Delhi Sunday morning.
As the procession went ahead, a large number of locals living near the route came on the road to pay homage to the deceased. Some of them also joined the procession, taking the total number to more than 1,000.
Since the route passes from NH-8 at Thakkarnagar area, police stopped the traffic for around 20 minutes.
"The procession reached peacefully at the crematorium without any untoward incident. We have not imposed any curfew in that area. Locals have also cooperated and refrained from shouting any inflammatory slogans," said Nakum.
Since <g data-gr-id="41">Swetang</g> was the only son of Prabhaben, his sister Palak performed the last rites by lighting his funeral pyre. Talking to <g data-gr-id="35">mediapersons</g> after the rituals, Prabhaben vowed to fight for justice.
"I demand suspension of all the responsible police officers. They must be given life imprisonment for killing my son. I will fight till the end to get justice," she said.
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Two cops hurt as mob attacks police, 30 held
Two constables were injured when a police team returning after arresting 10 people for gambling was attacked by a mob at Galiyavad village in Dahod, police said on Sunday. The incident occurred on Saturday when the police party was returning from <g data-gr-id="119">village</g> after arresting ten persons on charges of gambling, Dahod taluka police station sub-inspector P S Jadeja said. Police on Sunday registered offence under various sections of IPC against 66 <g data-gr-id="117">persons,</g> arrested 30. “We registered an offence of rioting, attempt to murder, obstructing police to perform their duty against 66 people,” Jadeja said.
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