UP: 304 arrested for Friday violence

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh police have so far arrested 304 people in connection with violent incidents of sloganeering and stone pelting after Friday prayers in nine districts, including Prayagraj, Saharanpur, Moradabad and Firozabad.
According to the information given by Prashant Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) of the state, as a result of the arrests that lasted all night on Saturday, 304 suspects were detained from the troubled cities till 8 am on Sunday.
The custodial data revealed that these arrests have been made in the action taken under 13 FIRs registered in total nine districts.
As per the data, 91 people have been arrested under three FIRs registered in Prayagraj. Total 71 people have been arrested so far under three FIRs registered in Saharanpur and 51 under one FIR registered in Hathras.
Similarly, 28 people were arrested under an FIR registered in Ambedkar Nagar, 34 have been arrested under an FIR registered in Moradabad, 15 suspects have been arrested in Firozabad under an FIR, six people have been arrested in Aligarh and two were arrested in Jalaun.
An FIR has also been registered in Lakhimpur Kheri in connection with the violent protests, although no arrest has been made in Kheri so far.
Meanwhile, the police administration has arrested Mohammad Javed alias Javed Pump, who was identified as the mastermind of violence in Prayagraj and started the process of demolishing his luxurious two-storey house in Khuldabad on Sunday.
The Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) on Saturday pasted the notice on Javed Pump’s house. asking to vacate the house by 11 am on June 12, alleging encroachment and construction without the permission of PDA.
Apart from other officers of PDA, senior officers of district administration and police have also reached the place of demolition operation.
Police are on the lookout for eight other identified accused, who played a key role in the Prayagraj violence case.
There have been riots in these places in protest against the controversial remarks made by some leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about Prophet Muhammad.
On June 3, after Friday prayers in Kanpur’s Beconganj area, the agitators shouting slogans against BJP leaders tried to spread violence by pelting stones. After this incident, the state government had made elaborate security arrangements in all districts to ensure that Kanpur-like incidents do not happen after prayers this week.