Farmers died in police firing, admits MP home minister

Bhopal, June 8 : Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh on Thursday said that the five casualties during farmers’ agitation in Mandsaur occurred during police firing.
“Five persons were killed in police firing,” said Singh.
The minister’s remarks assume significance as the authorities had been claiming that the police had not fired during protests at Pipliamandi in Mandsaur district in which five farmers were killed two days ago.
Minutes after the incident, the then Mandsaur Collector S K Singh had said that the police said categorically that “neither did they fire nor did they have any orders to fire”.
Asked what provoked the police to fire, the home minister said it is being probe in the magisterial inquiry.
However, he said the situation was now peaceful in western Madhya Pradesh.
Meanwhile, contingents of Rapid Action Force (RAF) were today deployed in Mandsaur, which has been on the boil since the violence two days ago.
Two companies of RAF, comprising around 100 men each, have moved into Pipliamandi, the police said.
While two companies of RAF have been posted in the district’s Garoth area, another two have been deployed along the Mwoh-Neemuch Highway to prevent any untoward incidents, they said.
The situation is tense but under control, the police said.