Kasganj riot victim was killed by saffron activists, says UP officer

Within days after a senior IAS officer virtually accused the saffron outfits of inciting communal tension in the state, a senior Uttar Pradesh government official has alleged that Kasganj communal riot victim Chandan Gupta was killed by the saffron activists.

Rashmi Varun, Deputy Director in Statistics Department and currently posted at Saharanpur, also lent support to Raghavendra Vikram Singh, Bareilly District Magistrate, who had in a Facebook post said that the saffron outfits had taken out processions without permission in the Muslim-dominated areas and raised "anti-Pakistan" slogans.

"The boy (Chandan) was not killed by a second or third community...he was killed by saffron in the guise of white, saffron and green," she said in her Facebook post on Saturday.

Police have arrested two persons in connection with the killing.

Rashmi wrote that no "pro-Pakistan" slogans were raised at Kasganj nor was the "Tricolour procession" stopped on that day. "It (news to this effect) was the work of Whatsapp University," she said in a sarcastic vein referring to the rumours on the social media during the violence.

The official also supported the Bareilly DM's post and said that even a right person has to apologise after speaking the truth.

The Bareilly DM had in his post said that the saffron outfits were inciting communal tension. "It has become a fashion...take out forced processions in Muslim-dominated areas...shout anti-Pakistan slogans...are they (Muslims) Pakistanis?...the same thing had happened in Bareilly...there were stone-pelting and FIRs were lodged."

After the criticism by the BJP leaders, Singh had apologised for the post and deleted it.