New Delhi: Cracking down on the perpetrators of violence, the Kanpur Police on Wednesday booked 15 social media accounts including Facebook & Twitter in connection with the communal clashes that broke out in the city on Friday.
These 15 accounts have been booked for disrupting communal harmony while the cops have launched hunt for the admins of these accounts.
The case was lodged at Kotwali police station under sections 505, 507 and 66 of the IT Act for allegedly inciting passions.
Most of these accounts have been their names mentioned in the FIR, however, the location of users remains unidentified. One user is said to be from Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh.
The UP Police have launched a wide-scale crackdown on the alleged rioters who acted ‘as part of a conspiracy’ to foment trouble in the city. Today afternoon, photos of 40 accused were released by UP police as part of its naming & shaming strategy.
Communal clashes broke out in Yateemkhana, Pared & Nai Sadak area of the city when a group of people started forced closure of shops in the vicinity after Friday prayers. As other group protested, it snowballed into mass violence with people from both sides pelting stones at each other.
The violence also spread to other locations like Beconganj, Anwarganj and Moolgunj. The group of rioters were seen pelting and lobbing petrol bombs at police, following which the later took to baton-charge to disperse them.
36 under arrest, including mastermind, admins to be quizzed
The UP Police have arrested about 36 people including 4 masterminds for inciting & instigating violence in the city. The alleged masterminds include Hayat Jaffar Hashmi, Javed Ahmed Khan, Mohammad Rahil and Mohammad Suffian. All have been sent to 14 day custody.
Hayat’s wife Zara Hayat is also under the police scanner and may be interrogated soon. She was reportedly the admin of several WhatsApp groups and allegedly involved in sharing inflammatory content. The cops have already seized 6 mobile phones owned by the main riots conspirator Hashmi.
