Relatives of SP, BJP leaders involved in Mainpuri violence: Report

Lucknow: Four days after communal violence rocked Karhal village, in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, a report on Tuesday claimed that some relatives of local political leaders were allegedly involved in the incident.

According to a report published in 'The Times of India', the police have arrested Avneesh Kumar, son of a a local ward corporator Malti Devi.

It is being alleged that Avneesh had played a key role in flaring the violence.

Meanwhile, police is also looking for Titu Yadav, who has been named in the FIR. Titu is the brother of Nagar Palika chairman and Samajwadi Party leader SK Yadav.

The police had earlier arrested local Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rakesh Chandel in connection with the case. Besides Chandel, over a hundred BJP workers were also taken into preventive custody on Sunday but released in the evening.

Speaking to the newspaper, Karhal Police Station in-Charge Dilip Singh said, "On the basis of video footage and from the inputs of our local intelligence unit, we have found that Avneesh had a strong role in Friday's violence.”

Meanwhile, the report further said that Malti Devi and her daughter-in-law Aarti were also arrested and later released on bail.

Nine more persons have been were arrested in Karhal in Mainpuri even as the town slowly limped back to normalcy following disturbance over cow slaughter rumours.

District officials said conditions are now back to normal and the shops had reopened in the market.

Samajwadi Party General Secretary Ram Gopal claimed that efforts were being made to disturb peace and poison the atmosphere but the government was alert and would do everything to maintain harmony.

After Dadri, tension now prevails in Mainpuri where rumours of cow slaughter triggered violence with protesters targeting police vehicles and setting afire shops, leaving seven policemen injured on Friday.

The violence started after some persons spread rumours of cow slaughter in Karhal area with an intention to trigger communal tension in the town.

As soon as the rumour spread yesterday, people in Nagaria village set police jeeps on fire and damaged several other vehicles and shops as they were agitated over rumours of cow slaughter in the village, police said.

It was alleged that a cow, which was grazing in a field near the village, was taken away for slaughter and its skin was being removed in a house when some villagers barged in, the police said.

The violence in Mainpuri comes close on the heels of the Dadri lynching incident in which a man was killed over rumours of alleged beef consumption.