Eight arrested for assaulting French tourists in UP

A day after a group of French tourists were assaulted in Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur, five more accused were arrested on Monday and sent to prison, taking to eight the total number of people arrested for the crime.

A local court sent the accused to 14 days judicial custody.

A senior Mirzapur police official that Varanasi resident Riya Dutta had come to visit Lakhania Dari along with her family members and some foreigner friends on Sunday when a group of youngsters from Varanasi misbehaved with them. When the family resisted, they were assaulted and beaten up.

The police official further said that when the foreign tourists, still seated in the car, came out and tried to restore calm, they were also assaulted but sustained no injuries. Officials also said that the statement of the French nationals that they were not beaten up has been video recorded and preserved for future probe.

A probe has also been ordered by the district police as to where were the PAC troopers and local policemen at the time of the incident as they should have been there at the tourist spot. Additional SP, A.K. Singh will conduct the enquiry.

--IANS

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