Kanpur Violence: 13 More People Including Ex-BJP Leader Arrested, FIR Lodged For Inflammatory Social Media Posts

Former District Secretary of the BJP Yuva Morcha Harshit Srivastava has been arrested for posting inflammatory content on social media platforms, said Prashant Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order).?

Besides them, a 16-year-old boy walked into the Colonelganj Police Station and surrendered after his picture appeared on posters put up by police, said Kanpur's DCP (East) Pramod Kumar. ?

The violence broke out in Pared, Nai Sadak, and Yateemkhana areas of Kanpur on Friday when some people tried to force shopkeepers to shut their shops in protest against allegedly-insulting remarks made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma against Prophet Muhammad during a television debate, according to police. Members of two communities indulged in brick-batting and hurled bombs at each other. ??

The Kotwali police on Tuesday lodged an FIR against people behind two Facebook accounts and three Twitter handles for spreading "fake and inflammatory content" about Friday's violence, pushing the number of such users booked so far to 13, Kumar said. ?

He added that FIR has been registered against the operators of the Twitter handles "Duggalsahab15", "shivaisrael" ?and "AkhandBharat", and two Facebook account-holders Abu Zaid and Kaushal Patel.

The district administration has sealed a petrol pump situated nearby the Deputy Padav Crossing after a CCTV footage showed people taking fuel in bottles from the filling station ahead of the Friday clashes, said another senior official. ?

Since the sale of petrol in bottles is prohibited, the licence of the petrol pump has been suspended till further inquiry, he added.?

During investigation, it has emerged that the rioters came from various districts and localities from far away. The SIT has shifted its focus on those who could be key conspirators and behind the funding for the riots, the official added.

Besides, the police have also started probing the role of Zara Hayat, the wife of Zafar Hayat Hashmi, a key conspirator, whose arrest was made from Hazratganj of Lucknow on Saturday.?

The evidence collected by the SIT raised doubts on Zara Hayat who was the administrator of several WhatsApp groups, the official pointed out.?

On Monday, the Kanpur police had released posters with 40 images of people involved in the violence.?

Police are said to have gathered images of the alleged accused through several videos of the incident, including those captured on CCTV and mobile phones.?

"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, on Monday.

(With PTI inputs)