AURANGABAD: With a spate of youths committing suicide demanding reservation for the Maratha community, law enforcement agencies, both at the Centre and the state-level, have started probing if the members tried imbuing a communal colour to the agitation and if any member was provoked to take the extreme step.The agencies are going through each of the incidents and checking if any of them were politically motivated.As per the data available with coordinators of the movement, 26 people have died for the Maratha cause following Kakasaheb Shinde's plunge into the Godavari river on July 23.Over 30 offences have been registered against community members in different parts of the state for allegedly taking law in their hands and giving the agitation a violent turn.The district administrations in the state have been left with no option but to give written assurances of Rs 10 lakh and a government job to the immediate kin of the deceased.Leaders from the community have not only distanced themselves from the violence but have also appealed to the members to refrain from taking extreme steps.An officer privy to the probe said, "In the past two years, there was no violence in the Maratha community's movement. All the violence and suicides have been reported only in the last one month, forcing us to check and cross check different angles including that of provocation and the people behind the stir."When contacted, Aurangabad district collector Uday Choudhari confirmed the development but refused to speak much on the issue.Another officer said, "It is alright if the agitators don't want to trust the government or the administration. However, that the suicides and the violence continued even after the high court asked the commission to submit a report, is something to be taken into consideration."Sources informed that the process of gathering intelligence on the provocation angle was underway in all the districts affected by the agitation."During the agitation, there have been several incidents on record when the attempts to incite violence in an agitation were thwarted by the police in different districts of Marathwada region," said a superintendent of police who himself has registered such incidents on record in his district.

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