A miffed Rajnath reiterated his demand that president’s rule be imposed on the northern state.
The arrests come a day after police took into custody BJP MLA Suresh Rana in Lucknow on charges of making provocative speeches to incite riots in Muzaffarnagar. Rana was on Saturday day remanded to 14-day judicial custody by a local court in the riot-ravaged district, which also rejected his interim bail plea. ‘While Som was arrested in Meerut, BSP legislator Noor Saleem Rana has been arrested from Muzaffarnagar,’ informed IG (law and order) R K Vishwakarma.
Som is accused of uploading a fake video that allegedly played a role in provoking communal tension in the town, besides making inflammatory speeches.
Som was later brought to Muzaffarnagar and produced before the court of chief judicial magistrate, which remanded him to 14-day judicial custody in the video clipping case. He, along with Noor Saleem Rana, the BSP MLA from Charthawal, was produced in the court of Additional CJM in the inflammatory speech case, which remanded them to 14-day judicial custody.
On 18 September, a court in Muzaffarnagar had issued arrest warrants against 16 politicians and community leaders including Som, BSP MP Qadir Rana, BJP MLA Bhartendu Singh, BSP MLAs Noor Saleem and Maulana Jameel, Congress leader Saeeduzaman and BKU chief Naresh Tikait.
The day also saw BJP president Rajnath Singh being denied permission to visit the riot-hit district. ‘I wanted to meet the families of the victims and take stock of the situation, but the district administration denied permission saying my visit is not possible in the present circumstances,’ said Singh. The BJP leaders will be meeting the President on Sunday to give him an account of the prevailing situation in riot-hit areas.
Earlier on Saturday, minister of rural development, Jairam Ramesh, attacked the UP government for its inaction in controlling the violence in Muzaffarnagar.