Mathura violence: NSA invoked against 3 aides of Ram Vriksha

Mathura: Charges under the stringent National Security Act have been slapped on three close aides of Ram Vriksha Yadav, the leader of the sect, members of which had encroached on government land at Jawahar Bagh area here and carried out an attack on police.

"Chandan Bose, the commander of the army of Ram Vriksha Yadav, the leader of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, his security officer Viresh Yadav and financier Rakesh Gupta have been booked under NSA," SP (City) Alok Priyadarshi said today.

Action has been initiated against them for encroaching on government land with the help of other members of the sect and killing SP Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Yadav when police had in June tried to evict them following court orders, he said.

A total of 29 people were killed in clashes between police and members of the sect.

The one-member judicial commission probing the incident has recorded statements of 57 witnesses. Yesterday, it recorded statements of BJP leader Ravikant Garg and six others.