1984 anti-Sikh riots: Five more arrested in Kanpur

Representational image. ANI

Kanpur: An SIT probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases has arrested five more people who were part of a mob that had set a house ablaze during the violence, which had left 127 dead here.

Till now, the Special Investigation Team 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.

The fresh arrests were made on Wednesday. The SIT was formed by the Uttar Pradesh government three years ago to re-investigate the cases related to the riots.

The five arrested have been identified as Ravi Shankar Mishra (76), Bhola Kashyap (70), Jaswant Jatav (68), Ramesh Chandra Dixit (62) and Ganga Baksh Singh (60), all resident of Kidwai Nagar. They were produced before the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate, which remanded them into 14-day judicial custody, said Deputy Inspector General of Police Balendu Bhushan Singh, who is heading the SIT.

They have been booked under the Indian Penal Code 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), he said.

The DIG praised the 17-member police team who played the key role in nabbing the accused and announced a cash reward of Rs 25,000 for it. Efforts are being made to arrest all absconding people at the earliest, the DIG said.

The crackdown against the accused had started on 15 June after the SIT held four prime accused from Ghatampur. Just a couple of days back, the SIT had nabbed two people. The SIT was constituted by the state government on 27 May, 2019, on the orders of the Supreme Court and it has been probing the anti-Sikh riots for the past three years and efforts are on to nab more suspects, DIG Singh told PTI.

The SIT earlier had identified 96 people as prime suspects, of which 22 have died. Complete information about 21 suspects was gathered and it helped the SIT to nab 11 of them so far, 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 exploring facts from witnesses settled in Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan. The SIT also found that 22 people have already died,” the DIG added.