E-Paper
Anti-Sikh riots: SIT arrests 2 more accused in Kanpur
The SIT, formed by the UP government in 2019 on the orders of the Supreme Court to reinvestigate the pending cases related to the riots, has so far arrested 13 people in connection with the violence that took place following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in Delhi
KANPUR: The special investigation team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases has arrested two more accused who were allegedly part of a mob that had set a house ablaze during the violence, which had left 127 people dead in Kanpur.
The SIT, formed by the UP government in 2019 on the orders of the Supreme Court to reinvestigate the pending cases related to the riots, has so far arrested 13 people in connection with the violence that took place following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in Delhi.
Siddh Gopal Gupta, 66, and Jitendra Kumar Tiwari, 58, were arrested for murders of Gurmukh Singh and D Singh in Naubasta. A local court has sent them to 14-day judicial custody.
The SIT arrested Gupta from K-block Kidwai Nagar and Tiwari from SA block in Yashoda Nagar. Both had led a crowd to the house of the victims and murdered them after looting valuables and cash, the police said.
The accused have been booked under Sections 396 (dacoity with murder) and 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), DIG, SIT, Balendu Bhushan Singh said.
The SIT has shortlisted 11 cases of heinous crime committed during the riots and made 13 arrests in two cases. In total, it has prepared a list of 96 accused, of whom 73 are alive and 23 have died. Singh said more arrests were likely to follow in the case.
The crackdown against the accused started on June 15 after the SIT held four prime accused from Ghatampur, followed by two more arrests on June 21.
The SIT has been probing the anti-Sikh riots for the last three years and efforts are on to nab more suspects, the DIG said.
(With PTI inputs)
