IAF mulls moving victim’s kin to its area

Asserting that such acts cannot be accepted, Raha said senior officers were in touch with Corporal Mohammad Sartaj and his family.

“Unfortunate incident or accident I would say. It is unfortunate that a serving Air Force personnel’s family has been affected resulting in death in the family. We are already in touch (with the family),” he said on Saturday while replying to questions at his annual news conference ahead of Air Force Day.

“Whatever protection is required, we are giving it to him. We are trying to move (them) to some Air Force area. We are with him and our people are there to assist the family,” he said.

Air Chief Marshal Raha’s statement is a clear indication that senior military commanders are concerned about the possible fallout of such attacks on the forces.

Raha is also the senior-most commander and is the Chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee — a tri-services body that <g data-gr-id="65">advices</g> the government on a host of issues.

IAF sources said Sartaj is currently posted in Chennai and efforts are on to either enable the rest of the family to move there or transfer him to an area where his family can be. Meanwhile, the Delhi Chief Minister, accompanied by Sanjay Singh, Kumar <g data-gr-id="64">Viswas</g> and Ashutosh, met the victims’ family on Saturday. Later Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, too, met the family.

“Many political leaders have visited Dadri. But PM is silent till now. People will be happy if PM also visited and reassured victims and villagers,” Kejriwal tweeted, hours after his visit to the village.

Kejriwal was initially suggested by local police not to visit the village due to tense situation. Some <g data-gr-id="87">villa</g>gers even protested against visitors, including politicians and <g data-gr-id="67">mediapersons</g> who have been flocking the village since Monday night after the incident.

He also questioned why AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and Union minister Mahesh Sharma were not stopped by the administration on Friday from visiting the family and alleged that other parties were vitiating the atmosphere for political gains.

Rahul Gandhi spent almost an hour with the family. “In Dadri to meet Mohammad Iqlakh’s family,” he tweeted after meeting them. The Congress Twitter handle also put out pictures of Gandhi interacting with the family members of the deceased. Gandhi also met other villagers and inquired them about the incident.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday announced to increase financial assistance from Rs 10 to Rs 20 lakh to be given to the deceased’s family. After reviewing the situation at a meeting held in his office, Yadav said that nobody involved in the incident will be spared. He said that the government is committed to time bound and fair probe. He assured that all steps will be taken to prevent such incidents from occurring in future.

Meanwhile, Noida Police on Saturday claimed to arrest two youths, including a home-guard attached with the district police. Police said the arrested youth are the key accused involved in mobilising people for attacking over Iqlakh and his family and his death as well. The two young men have been identified as Vishal Rana and Shivam Kumar, aged around 20 years. Police sources also indicated that they suspect Vishal, son of local BJP leader Sanjay Rana, was among the main conspirators. He allegedly organised a meeting in which people were provoked to attack Iqlakh’s family. However, Vishal’s father Sanjay Rana has refuted these allegations. Sanjay has said he has been associated with the BJP for two <g data-gr-id="73">decades</g> but the party has said he does not hold any post.

The another arrested accused, Shivam <g data-gr-id="81">Kumar,</g> is a home guard who forced the priest to open the temple’s gate for making the announcement of cow slaughter over a loud speaker. Half an hour before the attack, an announcement was allegedly made at a temple nearby that a calf had been slaughtered and its carcass had been found near a transformer. No names were taken in the announcement, but there are only two families from minority community in the area and the other family was out. The villagers informed that Singh has earlier been involved in other incidents and enjoys patronage of the police.

“We have been identifying the people involved in gathering the mob and instigating them to attack the family. We have been questioning villagers and are parading suspected elements before the victims’ family so that we can identify them,” said a senior police official.

Meanwhile, media vehicles were attacked by locals in Dadri on Saturday with locals attempting to stop politicians and the media alike to visit the region.