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Villagers say no faith in cops, demand inquiry by CBI
The mahapanchayat of 50 villages around the Maruti Suzuki India Limited's (MSIL) Manesar plant have demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident and have declared the SIT investigation hogwash.
The mahapanchayat of 50 villages around the Maruti Suzuki India Limited's (MSIL) Manesar plant have demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident and have declared the SIT investigation hogwash.
The mahapanchayat was prompted to take a stand as the economy of nearby villages is largely dependent on the plant and hundreds of its ancillary units and vendors.
"We don't trust the special investigation team constituted by the government," said former Gurgaon Zila Parishad chairman Rao Abhay Yadav, who presided a gathering of 50 villages at Dhana village on Monday.
Though the mahapanchayat's resolution fell short of condemning the incident and asking for a fair probe, representatives expressed serious doubts about the authority's intention to bring to book the culprits on political grounds.
Villagers said the situation could have been controlled had the policemen present near the plant gates much before the violence broke out acted promptly. They also alleged the police were inactive through the night of the violence, letting the culprits run away.
At least a dozen present and former panchayat members HT spoke to alleged that the offenders had the backing of "vested" interests, including from "political circles".
The mahapanchayat also pitched for employment of local youths at the plant and said incidents such as last week's wouldn't have happened had villagers had a say in labour-related affairs of the plant. The gathering proposed the formation of a village committee comprising three members each from the seven villages near the plant.
