MP: 121 CCTVs to be installed in riot-hit Khargone, buses allowed to operate during curfew relaxation

The Khargone district administration in Madhya Pradesh has started the work of installing 121 CCTV cameras at different locations, including those where stone-pelting was reported during the Ram Navami celebration earlier this month, an official said on Tuesday.

Local administration relaxed the curfew in the violence-hit town for nine hours – from 8 am to 5 pm – for the fourth day in a row on Tuesday and allowed plying of passenger buses during that period.

Communal clashes had erupted in Khargone on April 10, during which shops and houses were damaged, vehicles torched and stones hurled. Subsequently, curfew was clamped in the city.

The police administration has given a list of locations where CCTVs need to be installed. Based on the list, work has been started to install 121 CCTV cameras at 36 locations, at a cost of Rs 64 lakh, Khargone Municipal Council’s chief municipal officer Priyanka Patel said in a statement.

The areas where incidents of stone-pelting took place are also among these 36 locations, she said.

The gadgets to be installed at these places include 14 special cameras which can detect the registration number of a vehicle passing from there, the official said.

There are 10 cameras which can rotate 360 degrees to record movements in these areas, she said.

Besides, 97 varifocal cameras will also be put up, she said, adding that more cameras will be installed if there is a demand from police authorities.

Meanwhile, Khargone’s in-charge Superintendent of Police Rohit Kashwani said they have recovered a pistol used by Mohsin aka Waseem, who was arrested in connection with the firing at SP Siddharth Chaudhary during the violence on Ram Navami.

The accused told the police that he had purchased the pistol from one Toofan Singh, who will also be questioned, the official said.

The police had arrested Mohsin last Friday from Kasrawad police station area in the district.

Khargone SP Siddharth Choudhary is currently on leave as he is undergoing treatment after sustaining a bullet injury in his leg.

Since April 14, the local administration has been relaxing the curfew for some hours.

As per the district administration’s order, the curfew relaxation will not be applicable to petrol pumps, religious places and for the sale of kerosene from Public Distribution System (PDS) shops.

During the curfew relaxation period, shops selling milk, vegetables, medicines, and barber’s shops among others, are allowed to remain open, said the order.