Moradabad SSP holds BJP's call for Mahapanchayat responsible for Kanth violence

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dharamvir told media here on Saturday that the situation in Kanth got tense only after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called for a Mahapanchayat.

Dharamvir said that Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) called for a Mahapanchayat despite denial of permission from the administration. He also blamed BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Sarvesh Singh for polarizing the situation as assembly by-elections are round the corner.

"The incident happened on the issue of a temple in which according to the tradition the loudspeakers are placed only on Mahashivrati and then taken off. But this time on June 16 MP Sarvesh Singh went there and forcefully got the mike placed due to which there were tensions. Both communities were called for the discussion but Sarvesh refused to remove the mike," said Dharamvir.

He also told the media that the police had arrested 62 people among the protesters and had lodged an FIR against them. They will now be presented in the court today.

"We were fully alert with full force and we prevented communal violence. Tensions were created purposely to win up coming by-elections. Nobody from Kanth was involved in yesterday's incident," he added.

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Yesterday, BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sangeet Som and five others were released from police custody after being detained earlier for heading a Mahapanchayat in Kanth near Moradabad to protest against the administration's decision to remove loudspeaker from a temple.

Som was one of the legislators booked and later released for inciting the last year's bloody religious clashes in Muzaffarnagar that killed about 60 people, according to reports.

BJP protesters later clashed with the police in Moradabad following the detention of party MLAs and Moradabad District Magistrate Chandrakant suffered serious injuries amid clashes.