Riot accused BJP MLA declared absconder

Rudrapur (Uttarakhand): BJP MLA Rajkumar Thukral, on the run since an FIR was lodged against him in connection with 2011 Rudrapur communal riots, has been declared an absconder by a local court.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashutosh Mishra declared Thukral an absconder on Tuesday on a CB-CID petition seeking an order to this effect. A notice has been pasted at the local MLA`s residence asking him to surrender himself before the court within a month failing which property attachment proceedings will be initiated against him, Udhamsingh Nagar SSP Ridhim Agrawal said. Thukral has been charged with instigating communal clashes in Rudrapur on October 2 in which four persons were killed and over 12 injured. He has been on the run since a non-bailable warrant was issued against him in connection with the case on October 15 this year. The opposition BJP has alleged Thukral is being framed at the instance of a Congress leader who had lost to him in the Assembly Elections last year.