Two held, hunt on for 7 others

POLITICAL TWIST Police claimed the arrested people were Samajwadi Party workers from Kannauj

LUCKNOW: A week after potatoes were found strewn on the road outside the chief minister’s residence, Vidhan Bhawan and Raj Bhawan, the Lucknow police arrested two people here on Saturday in connection with the act.

Giving the protest a political twist, police claimed the arrested people were Samajwadi Party workers from Kannauj.

The farmers, angry with the state government for not helping them get a decent price for their produce, had thrown potatoes on VIP roads in the intervening night of January 5 and 6.

“Kannauj residents Ankit Singh and Santosh Pal have been arrested, while names of seven others have surfaced in the entire conspiracy,” said Deepak Kumar, Lucknow SSP.

The others were identified as Shivendra Singh Chauhan alias Kukku, his brother Deependra Singh Chauhan, Sandip alias Ricky Yadav, Sanju Katiyar, Pradeep Singh alias Bengali, Jai Kumar Tewari and Chandra Shekhar Sharma.

He said extensive raids were on to arrest the remaining accused.

The main conspirators are Shivendra Singh Chauhan and Sanju Katiyar, both residents of Kannauj, said the SSP.

He said Chauhan contested

› Kannauj residents Ankit Singh and Santosh Pal have been arrested, while names of seven others have surfaced in the entire conspiracy?

DEEPAK KUMAR, SSP, Lucknow

election for the post of Nagar Panchayat chairman from Tirwa, Kannauj, as a Samajwadi Party candidate during the recently held local bodies’ poll but lost.

Katiyar’s wife Shilpi is a sitting chairman of Kannauj Zila Panchayat from the same party.

He said the remaining accused were also associated to each other and with the same political party.

Chauhan and Katiyar purchased potatoes from Satish Jatav’s cold storage in Purani Tathia, Kannauj, while Ricky Yadav arranged eight carrier vehicles for loading the tubers and bringing them to Lucknow, claimed the SSP.

“They brought potatoes to Lucknow, kept them at a place in Mall Avenue on the night of January 5 and vehicle driver Santosh Pal dumped them on the roads at night,” he said.

A cop associated with the probe said all vehicles were parked at the office campus of a political party.