The alleged 'mastermind' of Friday's communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur town in which 40 people, including police personnel were injured, was nabbed from the office of a YouTube channel in the state capital of Lucknow on Saturday.
A senior police official said that Hayat Zafar Hashmi, who had given a call for a bandh in Kanpur in protest against alleged objectionable remarks on Islam by a BJP spokesperson, had fled after the violence and was hiding in the office of a YouTube channel in Lucknow. Four others were also arrested with him.
The police has so far arrested 23 people and booked around one thousand others in connection with the violence in Pared, Yateemkhana and some other areas in the town on a day when President Ram Nath Kovind and prime minister Narendra Modi were visiting Kanpur Dehat district. Over 50 people had been detained and were being quizzed, police said.
Kanpur police commissioner Vijay Singh Meena said that Hashmi had hatched the conspiracy to trigger violence. He also said that the cops were probing Hashmi's connection with the Popular Front of India (PFI). "The PFI had given a call for bandh in Manipur and West Bengal in protest against the BJP spokesperson's remarks," he added.
"PFI's hand was also found in the violence in the town after the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act....five PFI workers were then arrested in connection with the violence," he said.
Police sources said that Hashmi had, through posts on his Facebook account, 'instigated' the people to close their shops and business establishment and court arrest to protest against the remarks of the BJP leader.
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav slammed the BJP government for failing to control the violence and demanded immediate arrest of the BJP spokesperson.
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