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Agneepath arson: 2 pvt academies involved in inciting violence in Ludhiana, say police
After interrogating the six men who were held for rioting and damaging public property at the Ludhiana Railway station last week while protesting against the Agneepath Scheme, the Government Railway Police (GRP) have found the involvement of two private academies in Kaithal, Haryana, and Jalalabad in Moga, which provide coaching to military aspirants
After interrogating the six men who were held for rioting and damaging public property at the Ludhiana Railway station last week while protesting against the Agneepath Scheme, the Government Railway Police (GRP) have found the involvement of two private academies in Kaithal, Haryana, and Jalalabad in Moga, which provide coaching to military aspirants.
According to police, these academies had allegedly formed two WhatsApp groups, where they had asked army aspirants to join the protest in Ludhiana.
Police investigation has revealed that these academies didn’t charge any prior fees from students taking coaching to clear the written test to enter the army. The students were asked to submit their original Class 10 or 12 pass certificates and were assured that they will be charged only after they clear the written tests.
“Since the government delayed the written test by over a year, even after the candidates cleared their physical tests, the payment of these academies got blocked and thus they asked the students to hold the protests,” said a police officer here.
The six youths who were arrested by GRP have been identified as Harmanpreet Singh and Manpreet Singh of Sarabha village in Ludhiana; Sukhprit Singh of Alamgir village, Ludhiana; Harmel Singh and Kuljit Singh of Moga and Kuljinder Singh of Rupnagar.
According to police, both Kuljit and Harmel Singh took coaching from a private academy run by an ex-serviceman in Jalalabad.
As per the statement of the accused, the academy used to charge ₹2,000 per month only from candidates taking coaching to clear the physical test. Moreover, all candidates were provided accommodation and food free of cost.
While the ex-serviceman used the ground of a government senior secondary school to train the military aspirants in Jalalabad, the one in Kaithal used the ground of a private college.
Students were supposed to pay ₹30,000 to the coaching centre in Jalalabad after clearing the written examination and were asked to pay ₹45,000 by the one in Kaithal, according to police.
“We have formed two teams and will soon ask the people operating these academies to join the investigation here. It is important to check their finances and ensure that they were not getting any foreign or illegal funding,” said a senior police officer. The officer added that students were bound to these academies as they had submitted their original documents.
One of these accused, Manpreet Singh, had joined the protest despite not being an army aspirant.
Moreover, according to the police, the accused were not even fully aware of the Agneepath recruitment policy, but joined the protest with an understanding that they might become unemployed or get shunted out from the armed forces after four years.
A local court sent all the six accused to judicial custody on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, even four days after around 70 anti-Agneepath protesters went on a rampage and vandalised property at the Ludhiana railway station, the operations there are being run under heavy security deployment. Senior police officials continue to visit the station to take stock of security arrangements.
Communist party protest against Agnipath recruitment scheme
The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Wednesday staged a protest against the Agneepath recruitment scheme of the Union Government.
They said that is not only a betrayal of the youth but would also weaken our army.
They added that after four years of service in the army, the future of these people will be in the dark.
With only a few months of training, the risk of casualties will be higher in case of a war, said DP Maud.
Among those who addressed the protest were Comrade DP Maud, Arun Mitra, Ramesh Ratan, Chamkaur Singh, Vijay Kumar, Ka Kameshwar and Vinod Kumar.
