The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the UP government in its case diary has mentioned that miscreants were given money to spread violence in Kanpur during the protests on the Prophet remark row recently, as per TimesNow.
According to the SIT’s case diary filed in court, the stone-pelters were allegedly paid Rs 500-1,000 and those who agreed to hurl petrol bombs during the riots were reportedly paid Rs 5,000.
The SIT has also claimed that the miscreants who agreed to participate in arson were assured free legal assistance. Notably, the miscreants were trained for 8-9 days.
On June 3, Kanpur witnessed violent clashes after a local organisation called for a shutdown in protest against now suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s remarks about Prophet Muhammad.
Members of two communities had indulged in brick-batting and hurled petrol bombs over attempts to shut shops by a particular group in protest against comments on Prophet Muhammad.
Kanpur Police have arrested three Popular Front of India (PFI) members -Saifullah, Mohammad Naseem and Mohammad Umar on June 9 in connection with the violence.
The police have claimed that activists of PFI had allegedly mobilised rioters and were in contact with the main conspirator of the violence, Hayat Zafar Hashmi, the key conspirator of the violence, police said.
“The trio, with affiliation to PFI, was identified in 2019. They had also been arrested during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019,” Kanpur Police Commissioner, Vijay Singh Meena had said.
Some other persons arrested in connection with the violent incident in Kanpur have been identified as Matiullah alias Matti, Azizur-rahman, Mohammad Amir, Sarfraz, Mohammad Farhad, Arshad alias Bablu, Shahenshah alias Nayyar, Saklain, Sunny, Shamim, Mohammad Sartaj and Khaleel.
