Local Politician Faheem Khan, Accused Of Inciting Nagpur Violence, Arrested
Police on Wednesday arrested a ‘key accused’ – identified as Faheem Khan, who the cops said had incited the violence – behind riots in Maharashtra’s Nagpur this week, as two communities clashed over demands to relocate Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb out of the state.
A local politician – from the Minority Democratic Party – Khan will be in custody till Friday.
The cops, meanwhile, are also “examining if this (the violence) was the act of a single person or an organisation”. So far, they have registered six cases and filed complaints against 1,200 people, of whom less than 200 have been named so far. The rest are being tracked down.
Police action today comes after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputy, Eknath Shinde, on Tuesday declared the violence a “premeditated conspiracy” by unknown persons.
Mr Fadnavis told the Assembly the violence began after Hindu protesters – including members of hardline groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajgrang Dal – burnt a “symbolic grave with bundles of grass”. Then there were rumours spread, he said (hence, the ‘conspiracy’) that there was religious text on the green-coloured cloth used to cover the “symbolic grave”.
“After namaz (Friday prayers) a crowd of 250 people came to the place and started shouting slogans. When people started saying they would set vehicles on fire, police used force,” he said.
