‘Accused also involved in extortion’

LUCKNOW: A group of vendors, who put up stalls on Daliganj street, on Thursday alleged that the accused arrested for beating up Kashmiri vendors were involved in extorting money from them.

Bajrang Sonkar, 35, and his aides, extort money from us for allowing us to put up stall in the locality, said the vendors, requesting anonymity.

“Sonkar and his aides have been misusing the garb of being right wing activists since after the formation of the BJP government in the state,” they said.

A fruit seller of Daliganj said Sonkar’s aides had approached him only two days back demanding ₹ 1000 per month for putting up his stall on the roadside. He

said they had threatened us with dire consequences if the amount is not paid. He said the motive behind the attack on Kashmiri vendors could have been the same. He said they intentionally wore saffron clothes to pose themselves as right wing activists. Earlier, some members of Vishwa Hindu Dal staged protest and shouted slogans outside Hasanganj police station demanding release of the four accused. Ambuj Nigam of Vishwa Hindu Dal backed the act of the four accused and demanded the release of the arrested persons.

Initial probe revealed that Vishwa Hindu Dal trust was formed barely eight months back by Ambuj Nigam. Bajrang Sonkar is president of Mahanagar unit of the group.