Kanpur violence: Uttar Pradesh police arrest 9 more people; total arrests reach 38

In a recent update on the Kanpur clashes, the Uttar Pradesh police have arrested nine more people pertaining to the clashes that broke out on June 3 in Kanpur, making a total of 38 arrests in the case. Notably, on Sunday, Kanpur police constituted an SIT to monitor CCTV footage as well as to investigate the case of a petrol pump giving petrol in an open bottle. 

Speaking to Republic TV over the arrests in Kanpur clashes, Joint Commissioner of Kanpur, Anand Prakash Tiwari said, "In last 24 hours, 9 more people have been arrested. We are identifying people and arresting them. We are investigating from several angles and when disclose further information soon."

He said that people are being identified from the video footage of CCTVs and based on that arrests are made. "We are looking into them (CCTV) and we are identifying people. Based on these we are arresting the culprits," Tiwari told Republic TV. 

Adding further, the police officer said that if police and its sister agencies are unable to identify some miscreants, they will take the help of the public to identify those seen on CCTVs.

Kanpur violence accused sent to 14-day judicial custody

Four accused, including key a conspirator of Kanpur violence Hayat Zafar Hashmi, were sent to 14-day judicial custody by an Uttar Pradesh court on Sunday. "The four accused were presented before the court and we presented all documents. The court sent them to 14-day custody. We may ask for further remand," DCP Pramod Kumar told Republic TV.

It is pertinent to mention that Hayat Zafar Hashmi had called for a shutdown of the market on Friday in protest against the BJP leader's remarks on Islam. The forceful shutdown triggered an ugly spate of violence and stone-pelting, on a day when both the Prime Minister and the President were in the state. 

Notably, a violent scuffle broke out between two groups belonging to different communities allegedly over a market shutdown in Kanpur on Friday. This happened after an angry group of people asked shopkeepers to shut down their shops over Nupur Sharma's controversial comments that purportedly hurt religious sentiments.

The rift escalated into a clash following which bombs were hurled and stones were pelted which injured two people and a police officer as well. Following this, within a few hours, the situation was brought under control, and security in the area was also beefed up between Yateem Khana and Parade crossroads.