Kasganj/Lucknow
Situation in riot hit Kasganj district is slowly limping back to normalcy on Monday. Uttar Pradesh government has transferred the Superintendent of Police of Kasganj.
Piyush Srivastava has been appointed as the new Kasganj SP and directed to take over charge immediately from Sunil Kumar Singh.
Confirming the action on Monday evening, IG (Public Grievances) Vijay Singh Meena, during routine briefing of the government, claimed that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been also formed to probe all the five cases registered so far in connection with the violence in Kansganj district.
So far, the local police have arrested 125 persons and some more will be arrested soon.
However, several were also detained for interrogation, the IG added.
The UP Police said drone cameras had been deployed for aerial surveillance and described the situation as improving.
Explosives were found during house-to-house searches following which the state police chief said the stringent National Security Act (NSA) would be invoked against culprits.
Under the NSA, a person can be detained without bail or trial and authorities need not disclose grounds of detention if they believe the detainee can act in a way that poses a threat to the security of the state/country or the maintenance of public order.
Kasganj Violence a “Blot” On UP: Governor Ram Naik
Uttar Pradesh Govenor Ram Naik today termed the Kasganj communal clash a “blot” on the state and asked the government to initiate measures to ensure such incidents did not recur.
The governor noted that such an incident had occurred in the state for the first time in the last 9-10 months and described it as “shameful”.
In Kasganj, where the situation is tense but under control, clashes between two communities had claimed one life.
At least three shops, two buses and a car were torched after a youth was killed in clashes following stone-pelting by a mob on a motorcycle rally taken out to celebrate Republic Day.
“Whatever happened in Kasganj was not good. The incident there is a ‘kalank’ (blot) for UP. The government is probing the incident. It should initiate effective measures to ensure that such incidents are not repeated,” he told reporters in Lucknow.