Samajwadi Party link to Kanpur violence? WhatsApp chats unearth ‘unholy link’

New Delhi: While Uttar Pradesh police apprehends the Kanpur violence rioters and tightens the noose on masterminds, the emergence of alleged Samajwadi Party leaders’ connection with the riots has sparked off a major controversy.

Some WhatsApp chats have gone viral on social media, which apparently circulated incendiary messages to instigate and provoke the youth for stone-pelting. According to reports, some SP leaders are said to be the part of these hate-filled WhatsApp group and were also designated as admins in some groups.

According to a leading channel, riot accused Nizam Qureshi ran a WhatsApp group by name ‘team Nizam Qureshi’ and this group had all 3 SP MLAs from Kanpur as its members. This WhatsApp group was among the key tools to incite passions of a community and instigate them to take to streets for fanning violence.

The Samajwadi Party has already alleged selecting targeting in the riots probe and claimed that UP police is biased in its interrogation and is targeting only Muslim youths. All these 3 SP MLAs are likely to meet the police commissioner today evening.

The UP police has booked more than 500 rioters in conection with the violent clashes that rocked Kanpur on Sunday. Seveal incriminating WhatsApp chats have also been seized from mobile phones belonging to masterminds like Hayat Zafar Hashmi. More than 114 WhatsApp groups were found on Hashmi’s phone in which messages regarding the closure of shops in Kanpur on June 3 were discussed. He was one of the key conspirators of Kanpur violence. Messsages from his phone were sent to 6 other mobile phone that are now being tracked.

Meanwhile, the SP has washed its hands of the controversy and refused any links of its partymen with the riots. SP’s Amitabh Bajpayee, speaking to a TV channel, washed hands off the entire ‘unholy link’ between partymen & the Kanpur riots and said that they are all working with the adminsitration to bring the perpetrators to book.