Five Mandsaur farmers died in police firing admits MP Home Minister

After days of denial, the Madhya Pradesh government finally admitted that five farmers who lost their lives during agitation in Mandsaur died due to police firing. MP home Minister Bhupendra Singh, who had denied that police opened fire at farmers, on Thursday acknowledged that farmers were indeed killed in police firing.

"Death of five farmers was due to police firing. It has now been established in the probe," Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said. The same man on Tuesday had said that the government had neither given firing orders nor had the police opened fire at farmers. The probe also claimed that police resorted to opening fire after agitating farmers attempted to vandalise a police station and the situation got out of hand. Madhya Pradesh's home minister had vehemently defended the police forces and rejected claims of farmers that security forces had opened fire.

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had ordered a judicial probe into the issue after an uproar. Two days after the probe was ordered, the government has acknowledged that five farmers were indeed killed in police firing. The state's top cop had, however, on Tuesday night claimed that the police was forced to open fire as protests went out of hand. The MP government has announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore for kin of farmers killed in police firing and Rs 1 lakh for those who sustained injuries.

OneIndia News