Kasganj under curfew after fresh violence

Lucknow: Curfew has been imposed in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj city after fresh violence broke out on Saturday in which half a dozen shops and a bus were torched and a religious structure vandalised by a mob.

Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse a crowd that turned violent after the cremation of Chandan Gupta, 22, who was killed in Friday’s firing when clashes took places between two communities during a rally to celebrate the Republic Day.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Sadhvi Prachi was prevented from travelling towards Kasganj on Saturday, prompting her to sit on a dharna on the Bareilly-Mathura highway.

Additional DG (law and order) Anand Kumar said, “Anti-social elements today tried to set on fire a small shop on the city’s outskirts... some of the anti-social elements have been taken into custody, while others were chased away.”

Sources said at least 40 people were taken into preventive detention.

The UP police said in a tweet on Saturday that it has arrested at least nine people in connection with Friday’s violence.

“A complaint has been filed at the Kasganj police station and nine people have been arrested so far. A special team has also been constituted and we are trying to arrest others involved as well,” said a police spokesman.

Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed in the communally sensitive areas and five companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have also been deployed.

Violence broke out in Kasganj on Friday when a motorcycle rally was being taken out by VHP and ABVP activists.

According to Kasganj SHO Ripudaman Singh, the clash occurred after a group in Badu Nagar objected to slogans being raised by motorcyclists during the “Tiranga Yatra”, which had started from the Bilram Gate area.

Both groups hurled stones at each other before shots were fired in which Chandan Gupta was killed. Another person injured in the firing, Naushad, is admitted to hospital.

A separate altercation in which a member of one group allegedly slapped a youth of the other further complicated the situation. A video of Friday’s bike rally is circulating on social media, showing an argument between two communities on the route for the rally.