387 arrested so far in UP as protests over Agnipath continue
Lucknow/Saharanpur, June 19
As many as 387 people have been arrested so far across Uttar Pradesh in connection with the violent protests against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme even as the agitations continued in several parts of the state, police said on Sunday.
On Sunday, police arrested nine people and detained several others in Saharanpur, Bhadohi and Deoria districts for their alleged involvement in the violent agitations, they said.
Police have lodged 34 FIRs in connection with the protests till Sunday, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said.
Of the 387 people nabbed so far, 145 were arrested as a preventive measure under Section 151 of the CrPC, he said.
“They can be kept in police custody for a maximum of 24 hours,” explained Kumar.
The arrests have been made from 11 districts, including Ballia (109), Mathura (70), Jaunpur (41), Varanasi (36), Aligarh (35), Ghazipur (23), Chandauli (23).
According to police, the 34 cases have been lodged in 14 districts, maximum seven in Jaunpur, four cases each in Aligarh, Mathura, Chandauli and Varanasi, and two cases each in Ballia and Mirzapur. A case each has also been registered in Gorakhpur, Deoria, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Chandauli, Agra, Ghazipur and Firozabad.
Of nine people arrested on Sunday, four were arrested in Bhadohi and at least eight were detained in Deoria. Those arrested in Saharanpur are said to be members of different political parties, officials said.
Saharanpur Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Tomar said, “We have arrested five people in connection with the Agnipath protest. All are above 25 years of age and are connected to different political parties. Posing as Army aspirants they were involved in instigating youth to protest against the scheme.” Those arrested have been identified as Parag Pawar (26), Sandeep (34), Saurabh Kumar (28), Mohit Chaudhary (26) and Uday (26).
While Parag is a member of the National Student’s Union of India, the student wing of Congress, Sandeep is linked with the Samajwadi Party, the SSP said.
All the accused are residents of villages under the Rampur Maniharan police station limits.
In Bhadohi, police resorted to lathicharge to disperse protesters and arrested four youths.
“On Sunday, 30 to 40 youths gathered for a protest on the Gyanpur-Gopiganj road with national flags. Before they could start their demonstration, police dispersed them,” SHO of Gopiganj police station Brijesh Kumar Singh said, adding that four people were arrested.
In Deoria, a large number of youths protested against the Agnipath scheme in the Barhaj area. They also resorted to the pelting of stones and vandalized a gas filling station on the Paina road, police said.
Police have initiated a probe and detained eight to 10 people in the matter.
The filling station salesman also accused the protesters of looting cash. Shopkeepers in the area closed their shops out of fear and people who came to the market returned home, police said.
“So far eight to 10 agitators have been detained. Police are interrogating them but no written complaint from the filling station has been received,” SHO of Barhaj police station Jai Shankar Mishra said.
