Zee Media Bureau
Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday arrested Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Sangeet Som and Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Noor Saleem Rana for their alleged involvement in inciting communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas.
BJP legislator from Sardhana, Sangeet Som, was `forced` to surrender in Salawa village in Meerut area while BSP MLA Noor Saleem Rana was arrested by the police hours later. Som was also later formally arrested by the police.
"While BJP MLA Som was arrested in Merrut district, BSP legislator Noor Saleem Rana has been arrested from Muzaffarnagar," IG (law and order) RK Vishwakarma told a news agency. Som was arrested Salava village in presence of his supporters who were shouting slogans against the Uttar Pradesh government.
Som is accused of uploading a fake video that played a crucial role in the Muzaffarnagar communal riots and Rana was held for allegedly making hate speeches in connection with the riots.
Som, who is accused of circulating a video that claimed to show the lynching of two Hindu Jat boys, earlier had said that he has not given any inciting speech, and asked the concerned authorities to prove the charges.
The BJP MLA was later brought to Muzaffarnagar and produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Kiran Pal Singh which remanded him to 14 days judicial custody in the video clipping case.
Som’s arrest comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh police arrested BJP MLA Suresh Rana on charges of making provocative speeches to cause riots. Meanwhile, a local court on Saturday sent Rana to 14 days of judicial custody.
While the police arrested BSP MLA Noor Saleem Rana, two other party leaders — Qadir Rana and Jameel Ahmed — against whom arrest warrants were issued by a local court are still roaming free.
The arrests come after a court on Wednesday issued arrest warrants against politicians of BSP, BJP and Congress for allegedly inciting violence in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas.
The arrest warrants have been issued against BSP leaders Rana, Ahmed and Rana, former Congress MP Saedduzzaman and BJP leaders Hukum Singh, Sangat Singh Som, Suresh Rana and Kunwar Bharatendu. Bharatiya Kisan Union leaders Rakesh Tikait and Naresh Tikait are also on the list.
The Uttar Pradesh Government has constituted a one-member judicial commission to probe the Muzaffarnagar violence, which has claimed over 40 lives.
The commission, which would mainly look into administrative lapses, if any, in controlling the violence, would submit its report to the government within two months.
Violence broke out in the Kawal area of Muzaffarnagar on August 27, when members of a community returning from a panchayat meeting in Naglabadhod, three kilometres from Kawal, clashed with members of another community.
