1984 anti-Sikh riots: 3 arrested in Kanpur by SIT probing case

A special investigation team probing the 1984 antiSikh riots on Thursday arrested three more people who were allegedly part of a mob that had set houses ablaze killing several people an official said As many as 127 people were killed in the riots in Kanpur The special investigation team SIT was formed by the Uttar Pradesh government three years ago on the orders of the Supreme Court to reinvestigate the casesThe SIT has so far arrested 22 people in connection with the violence that occurred following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in Delhi on the morning of October 31 1984The fresh arrests were made in two cases one of which was lodged with the Naubasta police and the other with the Govind Nagar policeThe three arrested have been identified as Chandra Pratap Singh 67 Anil Nigam 61 and Ram Chandra Pal 61 the younger brother of Kailash Pal who was arrested on TuesdayThey were produced before a court which remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days said Deputy Inspector General of Police DIG Balendu Bhushan Singh who is heading the SITThe accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code IPC Sections 147 and 148 Rioting armed with deadly weapon 323 voluntarily causing hurt 302 murder and 436 mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house he saidEfforts are on to arrest 51 others of whom over a dozen have been traced but are currently absconding They have been named in two separate FIRs lodged with the Panki and Govind Nagar police the DIG addedThe crackdown started on June 15 after the SIT held four prime accused from Ghatampur followed by two more arrests on June 21 Just 20 days ago the SIT nabbed five more peopleAlso Read Jahangirpuri violence Delhi Police files charge sheetOn July 6 the SIT arrested four people including two brothers Yogesh Sharma 65 and Bharat Sharma 60 both residents of Dabauli in Govind Nagar Just three days ago four more people were arrestedIt had earlier identified 96 people as prime suspects of whom 23 have died The details of about three dozen suspects were gathered and it helped the SIT nab 22 of them so far the DIG saidThose arrested so far including Chandra Pratap and Anil Nigam had attacked the house of one Swarn Singh Both Swarn Singh and his son Gurvendra Singh were charred to death while Kailash Pals younger brother Ram Chandra had accompanied an armed mob to Dabauli to attack the house of one Vishakha Singh the police officer saidThe rioters killed Vishakha Singh his wife Saran Kaur daughter Gurvachan Kaur sons Joginder Singh Gurcharan Singh Chatrapal Singh and Gurmukhi Singh he saidTwo family members including Vishakha Singhs son Avtar Singh had managed to save themselves Avtar Singh later disclosed the identities of seven prime accused including Yogesh Sharma his brothers Bharat Sharma and former corporator Manish Sharma who is evading arrest the police officer saidThe DIG praised the 10member police team who played a key role in nabbing the prime accused and announced a cash reward of Rs 10000 for themThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever