Gulf Today

RSS youth, 4 others held in Whatsapp hartal case

- BY AM ABDUSSALAM

MALAPPURAM: After arresting more than 900 youths, mostly muslims, for taking part in the violent shutdown protest on April 16 against the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kashmir, Kerala police on Saturday nabbed the kingpin and four others who mastermind­ed the call for hartal on Whatsapp social media messaging platform.

Malappuram SP Debesh Kumar recorded their arrests after taking them into custody from Trivandrum and questionin­g them in Manjeri. All the arrested are natives of Kollam district. They are reportedly admins of Whatsapp groups that had called the hartal to protest Kathua rape-murder incident. Reports suggest that the arrested people are former workers of the Rashtriya Swayamseva­k Sangh (RSS), the ideologica­l mother of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to police, the youths created Whats a pp groups in several districts under the names of Voice of Truth and many sub groups including Voice of Sisters. Amarnath Baiju, 20, from Thenmala, a former RSS functionar­y, Kunnapuzha native MJ Cyril, 22, Sudheesh of Nellivila, 22, Neyyatinka­ra native Gokul Shekhar, 21, and Akhil, 23 were arrested by the police for circulatin­g communally charged messages.

Earlier in the morning, police identiIED A 16-year-old Boy From Koottayi near here for creating a group in Whatsapp, used to disseminat­e hartal call. As the boy was a minor, he was not taken into custody, the police said.

His phone records are being examined. According to the police, the hate mongering messages and the hartal call spread through this group were the initial trigger for the violent protests.

A lash Hartal Call on Whatsapp Drew hundreds of youths to streets on April 16 causing widespread damage to shops and establishm­ents and paralysing normal life in Kerala, especially the northern districts. Police have arrested over 900 people from different parts of the state in connection with the incident.

Police have been making mass arrests of people who instigated violence and have been slapping various charges against the arrested including promoting religious Enmity, ATTACKING police oficers, rioting and unlawful assembly. The police have also slapped stringent provisions of the Protection of from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on the arrested people for using the name and images of the Kathua victim.

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