Kanpur: Police in Kanpur have arrested Shankar, the owner of Roma Printers, where the posters related to the bandh call on June 3 were printed. Shankar allegedly printed the posters without completing the requisite formalities. His printing press is located in Brahmanagar locality. He told reporters that he had merely printed 20 posters and was not aware where the remaining posters were printed. More than 1,000 posters, asking people to observe the bandh in protest against the controversial remarks made by two former BJP spokespersons, had been put up in various localities in Kanpur after which violence erupted in Beconganj.
This comes a day after the Kanpur police released posters with photographs of 40 persons who were caught on camera pelting stones and participating in the violence that erupted in Kanpur on Friday.
Police have also provided a WhatsApp number for the people to inform them if they have any information about the alleged miscreants. As many as 38 persons have been arrested in connection with the violence, the FIR of which has 1,000 unnamed persons.Background
Following BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad on a prime time news channel, communal clashes broke out on June 3 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The clash occurred when Muslim shopkeepers were closing their shops in the Beconganj area after the Friday prayers as a mark of protest against the former BJP spokesperson’s remarks. It soon engulfed into stone-pelting and brick batting.
Seventeen persons had been taken into custody after the incident. Incidentally, President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were in Kanpur’s Dehat, a neighbouring district around the same time when the clashes broke out.—IANS