Rajnath Singh to visit riot-hit areas of Muzaffarnagar tomorrow

NEW DELHI: BJP President Rajnath Singh will visit the riot affected areas of Muzaffarnagar tomorrow and meet the family members of the journalist and two Jat youths killed during the initial phase of the violence that has left 43 people dead.

Singh will visit the residence of Rajesh Verma, the IBN7 stringer who was killed while reporting on the riots, and meet his family members, BJP media convener Shrikant Sharma said.

He will also go to Mallikapur village to offer his condolences to the family members of Gaurav and Sachin, the two young men killed by a mob. Their death led to a flare-up and engulfed other villages leading to killing of 43 people.

More than five thousand people have been displaced due to the violence.

Before Singh, Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad, along with two other MPs, had tried to visit Muzaffarnagar but were arrested at the Ghaziabad border by the police. They were told that their visit will further incite violence in the area.

BJP Vice-President Uma Bharti had given a slip to the police earlier this week and reached the Muzaffarnagar border. However, when she was detained by the police, Bharti sat on a dharna.

Bharti later raised the issue in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly of which she is a member.