Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday issued a poster of 40 suspects involved in the Kanpur violence that took place last week over alleged remarks made by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma against Prophet Mohammed. The police also appealed to the public to help in the search for the suspects. The police will put up hoardings carrying the pictures of key suspects at prominent places in and around the violence-hit areas.
The hoardings will have the contact numbers of Station House Officers and senior police officials so that people can pass on information about suspects to the police, PTI quoted officials as saying.
Meanwhile, nine more people have been arrested in connection with the violence, taking the total number of those held to 38, PTI reported.
Anand Prakash Tiwari, Additional Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, told PTI that raids were also being conducted at all possible hideouts to arrest rioters at the earliest.
The violence broke out in Pared, Nai Sadak and Yateemkhana areas of Kanpur on Friday when some people tried to force shopkeepers to down shutters over Nupur Sharma’s remarks against Prophet Mohammed during a TV debate. At least 40 people, including 20 police personnel, were injured in the violence.
Three separate FIRs have been lodged in connection with the violence. While 56 people have been named in the FIRs, nearly 800 unidentified persons have been booked.
Hayat Zafar Hashmi, chief of Maulana Mohammed Ali (MMA) Jauhar Fans Association, is suspected to be the mastermind of the violence and was arrested from Hazratganj area of the state capital on Saturday.
Kanpur police commissionerate has formed a SIT under a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) level officer to investigate the violence. Three more special teams with separate tasks have been formed to assist the SIT headed by DCP (south) Sanjeev Tyagi.