By Muhammad Raafi / Two Circles
NEW DELHI — On April 10 this year communal riots flared up in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh during a Ram Navami procession. Amjad Khan, a local owner of a small bakery business “Best Bakery” witnessed the carnage unfold.
The next day, Khan received a call from the local police station. He was summoned and told that he was seen at the spot of riots the previous day. Sham Pawar, a policeman, told Khan that he would be arrested and his house demolished.
On the day of the riots, Khan revealed to TwoCircles.net that the Sub-Divisional Police Officer of the area told him to help the police and administration to calm the tempers in his locality since he was a reputed businessman and had friends in both the communities — Muslims and Hindus.
“I did what the SDPO told me,” Khan said, “I stood at Talab Chowk and did not allow people to assemble,” he said.
Amjad Khan from Khargone who runs a bakery factory has continously been at the target of Anti Muslim State of MP as his factory has demolished for the second time in a space of 4 months. First they demolished it after the state orchestrated 'justice drive' in April and then + pic.twitter.com/Gg419S6FAS
— Meer Faisal (@meerfaisal01) September 7, 2022
Khan, a resident of the Jeelani Nagar area of Khargone, owns three bakery outlets in Karim Nagar, 100 meters away from his house. Two of the outlets are operated by Khan from self-owned shops while the third one is operated from a rented shop.
Priyanka Patel, the then Chief Municipality Officer of Khargone Nagar Palika called Khan and asked him to share the documents of all the shops and his house. “She called me at 9:30 in the morning on April 12,” Khan said.
Within a few minutes, Khan shared all the documents with the CMO. However, at 11 am he received a call from his manager telling him that bulldozers were outside one of their shops in Karim Nagar.
As Khan reached Karim Nagar to check what was happening at his shop, he saw a heavy presence of paramilitary and police personnel along with officials of the district administration and municipality at the spot. “Some officials were measuring my shop and marking it. When I enquired why they were marking the shop, they said they have an order from higher-ups,” Khan told TwoCircles.net.
Without getting an answer from the officials on the spot, Khan drove to the local police station to get the answers.
At the police station, Khan met the Additional Superintendent of Police and other senior police officials including the SDPO. The ASP enquired from Khan if he had gone to the riot-hit places on April 10. “I said I had not gone. The SDPO sir sent me there,” Khan said, adding that the SDPO testified to his claims.
This story was originally published in twocircles.net . Read the full story here