THERE WAS no relaxation of curfew in Banda town of Sagar district today, though the day remained incident-free.
The police refused permission to the families of the six-year-old boy Aniket Gupta and 17-year-old Pappu Lodhi, who had died in police firing yesterday, to cremate the bodies in Banda. Aniket was cremated in Makronia while Lodhi was cremated in village Magroon. Leader of Opposition Jamuna Devi, Sajjan Singh Verma, Satyadev Katare and Govind Singh Rajput visited the riot-affected area on Tuesday night and met the families of the victims. Aniket’s cousin Manoj Gupta alleged that the police pressurised them to cremate the boy in Makronia and prevented them from entering Banda town to perform the last rites. Similarly, the family of Lodhi was also not permitted to enter Banda to perform cremation. Aniket and Lodhi had died on Tuesday when Banda police opened fire to disperse the mob pelting stones on the police station. In the violence, one police jeep was set on fire, and 20 policemen were injured, four of them seriously. The gathering was protesting against the murder of Krishna Kant Lodhi on March 13, allegedly by Banti Rathore, the nephew of Jail Minister Harnam Singh Rathore.
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