In what many suspect to be a cover-up exercise, Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday claimed that the lady and her daughter, who had set themselves ablaze in front of the chief minister Yogi Adityanath's office at Lok Bhavan here on Friday evening in protest against alleged police apathy, had been 'encouraged' to do so by leaders of some political parties to 'tarnish' the image of the state government.
Three persons, including a district president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), were arrested on charges of 'inciting' the duo to set themselves ablaze.
Lucknow police commissioner Sujeet Pandey said here Amethi district president of AIMIM Kadeer Khan and a Congress leader Anoop Patel had 'encouraged' the duo to set themselves ablaze before the CM office here.
Two members of the family of the lady and her daughter were also involved in the conspiracy and had been arrested, he said. Pandey also said that the duo had visited the local Congress office here and met Patel.
He said that it was a conspiracy to 'malign' the UP government.
Union minister and MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani also sought to blame Congress for the incident. ''They (Cong) can not fight the BJP...they lost Amethi and the princess (Priyanka) now wants a shot at the throne,'' she tweeted.
The lady and her daughter, residents of Jamo area in Amethi, had set themselves ablaze before the CM office in protest against alleged failure of the local police to act against the people, who had assaulted them following a dispute over a nullah.
The cops on duty there managed to douse the flames and rushed the duo to the hospital, where the condition of the mother was stated to be ''very critical''.
Four cops at Jamo police station have been suspended in this regard.
Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders slammed the state government for trying to ''cover up'' the incident. ''It is an attempt to hide its failure,'' said a senior Congress leader here.