BJP MLA Sangeet Som, against whom arrest warrant has been issued in connection with the Muzaffarnagar riots, on Wednesday said he was ready for arrest and demanded a CBI inquiry into the entire issue.
He termed the allegations as “completely baseless and far from the truth,” and claimed that the government was getting cases registered against him to appease a particular section of society.
“I have myself demanded a CBI inquiry into the entire episode and I, along with all the MLAs, am ready for arrest, but the government should act correctly and uphold the truth,” Mr. Som, who appeared in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly despite arrest warrant against him, told reporters.
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“I am being accused of instigating the people by giving inflammatory speech...if that is the case, there would be a CD...they should show it,” Mr. Som, an MLA from Sardhana, said.
The BJP MLA exhorted the government to act judiciously.
“Government should take cognisance of the truth and before anyone else, get (Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister) Azam Khan arrested, as TV channels are showing his involvement in the riots...but that would not be done,” Mr. Som alleged.
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Denying that his party had convened a panchayat in Muzaffarnagar in violation of prohibitory orders imposed there, Mr. Som said had that been the case, there would have been flags and banners of the BJP, which were not there.
“The panchayat was called by the Kisan union and we were invited as people’s representatives...and if we had not gone, it would have been wrong,” he said.
Mr. Som faces a non-bailable warrant for allegedly posting a fake video online that instigated tension in the western region claiming 47 lives and rendering thousands homeless.