The illegal occupants of Jawahar Bagh, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh used to give arms training to their children, a senior police officer has claimed. They reportedly belong to the sect Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi.
"Children as young as eight years old were being given training in arms," officer DC Mishra told AFP on Saturday.
PTI reported that the encroachers had set up their own system of administration by establishing 'courts' and 'jail barracks', and had their own ways of punishment and reprimand.
"They had established a township, food items were provided... They also started running a government. They started giving punishment to people and torturing them. They set up courts, jail barracks and also set up pravachan centres and takhts," IG Agra Zone, Durga Charan Mishra said.
About 3,000 followers of the sect had clashed with police, after they encroached on 260 acres of government land. After cops tried evicting the encroachers last week, 24 people, including an SP and SHO, were killed in the violence that followed.
One of the nine children, who were living in the illegal colony, told NDTV: "They were talking about a fight. They were abusing the administration and were saying that Jawahar Bagh will never be vacated."
Another child, who was brought to Jawahar Bagh by one of his relatives, said that Ram Vriksh Yadav had promised them that he would 'free' India. He had also promised them gold coins — the 'only currency that would work in the country in future'.
According to Commissioner Agra Division Pradeep Bhatnagar, the cult's aim was to take people towards religious extremism or religious terrorism.
"They were planning to start their own currency. They did not want to follow the Constitution or law of the country. They said they would not talk to officials and did not recognise their authority," he added.
District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar said the plan for the eviction of encroachers from Jawahar Bagh was advanced after they attacked a recce party lead by SP city Mukul Dwivedi.
The sect, which claimed to be followers of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, had been making strange demands like removal of the President and the Prime Minister and discontinuation of the Indian currency.
(With agency inputs)
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