Kanpur Violence: Police Issues Poster With 40 Suspects; Arrest Tally Reaches 38

In the aftermath of the violence in Kanpur, the city police on Monday issued a poster of 40 suspects allegedly involved in the clash that occurred on June 3.

The police have issued posters on the basis of the CCTV footage. They also appealed to the public to help in the search for the suspects.

As per reports, the hoardings along with the pictures displays the contact numbers of Station House Officers and senior police officials so that people can pass on information about suspects to the police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), Pramod Kumar had earlier said that “25 hoardings having photographs of about 20 key accused, who allegedly took part in the June 3 violence, will be put up at prominent places in and around the affected areas and neighboring pockets.”

It has been decided that contact numbers of the Station House Officers and senior police officials will also be provided and an appeal will be issued so that people can identify the suspects and pass on information to the police, the DCP added. “We have gathered images of the accused persons through video clips, cameras, and CCTV footage,” the DCP said.

Arrest Tally Reaches 38

Meanwhile, the police have also arrested nine more people in connection with the violence, taking the total number of those arrested to 38, officials said. The violence broke out in Pared, Nai Sadak, and Yateemkhana areas of the city on Friday when some people tried to force shopkeepers to down shutters over allegedly insulting remarks made by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma against Prophet Mohammed during a TV debate, according to police. “We have identified about 100 more stone-pelters and rioters through CCTV footage and video clips,” said Anand Prakash Tiwari, Additional Commissioner of Police, Law, and Order.

Search operations are underway and raids are also being conducted at all possible hideouts to arrest rioters at the earliest. Besides, three more special teams with separate tasks have been formed to assist the Special Investigation Team headed by DCP (south) Sanjeev Tyagi, officials said. The first special team, comprising four members and headed by Additional DCP (East) Rahul Mithas, has been formed to examine the CCTV footage, including government and private ones, and hand the footage to the SIT.

Another five-member special team headed by Assistant CP Swaroop Nagar and Brijnarain Singh has been asked to investigate a matter pertaining to a petrol pump giving away petrol in open bottles and containers. The third special team headed by Assistant CP (Cantonment) will keep an eye on posts that are provocative and false on social media, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and others.

They have also been asked to investigate social media posts of prime accused Hayat Zafar Hashmi, chief of Maulana Mohammed Ali (MMA) Jauhar Fans Association, and his associates, which went viral on social media. Hashmi is suspected to be the mastermind of the violence and was arrested from the Hazratganj area of the state capital on Saturday, police said.

FIR Against People Behind 8 Social Media Accounts

Kanpur Police on Monday registered an FIR against people behind a Facebook account and seven Twitter handles for allegedly spreading fake and provocative content about the June 3 violence here. The FIR has been lodged against the operators of the Twitter handles — ‘JabirHu77384802’, ‘AlimehdiRizvi7’, ‘ullahghau$’, ‘ShoaibK89544990’, ‘moinudd15175525’, ‘mullaburhan’, and ‘ShamsTabrezQ’ — , and one Amit Singh Yadav of Mahoba, Additional CP (Crime) Sureshrao A Kulkarni said.

The people running these accounts allegedly posted provocative content which caused anger in the public, he said. The accused have been booked under section 505 (making statements to induce public mischief) and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code, and section 66 of the Information Technology Act.

(With input from agencies)

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