Lucknow: Religious leader Yati Narsinghanand, who organised an event in Haridwar last month that called for the Muslim genocide, was arrested late on Saturday. He is the second person arrested following the Supreme Court’s intervention.
Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi — who was Waseem Rizvi before he converted — was the first accused taken in custody in the hate speech case involving the Haridwar “Dharma Sansad” or religious assembly.
The saffron-robed Narsinghanand has said how a police officer “will be on our side” over the last two weeks to cursing them “all of you will die,” on Thursday following the first arrest.
Narsinghanand is named along with more than 10 people named in the FIRs lodged over speeches that called for genocide and the use of arms against Muslims. Apart from him and Tyagi, the cops have also taken an interest in another religious leader Sadhvi Annapurna under immense pressure.
Nearly a month after the event, the first arrest in the case came. This came only after the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Uttarakhand government to submit an affidavit within 10 days on action taken in the case.
“I am not ashamed of what I have said. I am not afraid of police. I stand by my statement,” Prabodhanand Giri — who has been snapped often with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Uttarakhand counterpart Pushkar Dhami — was quoted as saying by NDTV on December 23.
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