Uttar Pradesh police have arrested 49 people and constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the communal clash that led to the death of one person and injured two others on Friday.
Though the curfew-bound town remained tense, the situation was largely in control.
No entry to town
Minutes after the last rites of the deceased Chandan Gupta were completed on Saturday morning, a rioting mob burnt shops and buses. Senior police and administrative officers camping in Kasganj were reportedly angry with local police personnel for failing to control the rioting mob.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi tried to attend the funeral of the victim, but she was stopped before she could enter the town. The police had by then sealed all the the entry points to Kasganj.
Out of 49 people who were arrested, 10 have been booked on charges of murder and rioting. The remaining 39 were arrested on charges of disrupting law and order and burning buses and shops.
Kasganj District Magistrate R.P. Singh told The Hindu that two cases had been registered in the Kasganj Kotwali police Station. All Internet services have been suspended from 5 pm on 27th January to 10 pm on 28th January, he said.
“An FIR was filed by Inspector Ripudaman Singh, Station House Office (SHO) of Kotwali, against six named people under IPC Sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 336, 436, 295, 427, 323 and 504, and Section 7 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. Another FIR was filed by Chandan Gupta’s father Sunil Gupta against 20 men, including three named under various sections of IPC,” he said.
Considering the gravity of the situation, the Chief Minister’s Office sent Commissioner of Police-Aligarh Subhash Chandra Sharma and Inspector General of Police (IGP)-Aligarh Sanjeev Gupta to Kasganj to take stock of the situation.
An SIT has been constituted to further probe and arrest perpetrators of the violence. Along with the local police personnel, five companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary and one company of the Rapid Action Force had been deployed in the town, which has been under curfew since Friday afternoon. The force took out a flag march in the affected areas of Kasganj.
Additional Director General of Police-Law and Order Anand Kumar told the media on Saturday evening that the curfew-bound town remained peaceful and no fresh incidents of violence were reported. Some people torched a bus and a hut on Saturday morning, but the situation was immediately brought under control.
CM monitoring situation
“A huge police force has been stationed in Kasganj. We are hopeful that the town will get back to normalcy very soon,” Mr. Kumar said.
Principal Secretary-Home Arvind Kumar told the media, “A few incidents of arson were reported on Saturday on the outskirts, but there was no violence. The Chief Minister is also monitoring the situation.”
