SIT to probe anti-CAA violence in Uttar Pradesh

Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the violence during protests against Citizenship Act. The team will be headed by Additional SP (Crime) Rajesh Yadav, said DGP OP Singh. 

Lucknow: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been set up by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the cases of violence during the recent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the state.  

The director general of police (DGP) OP Singh ordered the SIT probe. According to the DGP, the SIT, in each district, will be headed by an officer of an Additional SP rank. The SIT will be headed by Additional SP (Crime) or Additional SP (City) of the district.

Over 1,000 people are under arrest and 5,558 have been kept in preventive detention following violence related to the anti-citizenship amendment act protests in the past one week, officials said on Thursday, putting the death toll in police clashes across the state at 19. 

The DGP sent out an assurance that no innocent person will be troubled during the investigation, while no accused will be arrested without evidence.

The victims comprised five from Firozabad, four in Meerut, three in Kanpur, two each in Sambhal and Bijnor and one each in Muzaffarnagar, Rampur and Lucknow.

This tally does not include the eight-year-old boy who was killed in Varanasi in a stampede on December 20.

"The eight-year-old was not killed in police action but in a stampede when protesters were retreating," a senior police official said.

During raids at various places, the police recovered 35 illegal weapons which were used during the riots to fire at the police. A police official said that 647 empty cartridges were also recovered from various places in the state.

The SIT probing the case will be headed by Additional SP (Crime) Rajesh Yadav.