1984 anti-Sikh riots: 5 more arrested in Kanpur
KANPUR A special investigation team of the Uttar Pradesh Police probing the 1984 antiSikh riots that claimed 127 lives in Kanpur arrested five more people for being part of the mob that set a house ablaze, an official said on Thursday.
The five accused – Ravi Shankar Mishra,76; Bhola Kashyap, 70; Jaswant Jatav, 68; Ramesh Chandra Dixit, 62; and Ganga Baksh Singh, 60, all residents of Kidwai Nagar – were arrested on Wednesday.
Deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Balendu Bhushan Singh, who is heading the SIT,said, “The accused were produced before the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate, which remanded them to 14-day judicial custody.”
The accused have been booked under Sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 396 (dacoity with murder) and 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) , he said.
The DIG said the arrested persons had accompanied a mob in a couple of buses to Nirala Nagar for setting the house of one Gurudyal Singh on fire in 1984.
There were 12 families residing at Gurudyal’s house as tenants and during the attack, three people were burnt alive.
A rioter, identified as Rajesh Gupta, was also shot dead during cross-firing, he added.
“We have been investigating 11 cases after identifying 96 prime suspects and speaking to witnesses settled in Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan. Twenty-two people have already died,” the DIG added.
The SIT was constituted by the state government on May 27, 2019, on the orders of the Supreme Court and it has been probing the anti-Sikh riots for the past three years.
The DIG praised the 17-member police team who played the key role in nabbing the accused and announced a cash reward of ₹25,000 for it.
The crackdown against the accused involved in the riots had started on June 15 after the SIT held four prime accused from Ghatampur.
So far, the SIT has arrested 11 people in connection with the violence that took place, following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.