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Agnipath protests: 5 including NSUI, SP members held
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Akash Tomar said Parag Panwar, an accused, is the NSUI district president. Another accused Sandeep Choudhary is the former zila panchayat member of Samajwadi Party.
Five persons, including district president of National Students Union of India (NSUI) and former zila panchayat member of Samajwadi party in Saharanpur, were arrested by the police for allegedly provoking army job aspirants during demonstration in the district on Saturday.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Akash Tomar said Parag Panwar, an accused, is the NSUI district president. Another accused Sandeep Choudhary is the former zila panchayat member of Samajwadi Party.
The SSP said that those were involved in holding demonstration along with army job aspirants. “Their identities were verified and they were found to be members of political parties. They are being sent to the jail,” he said.
He said that political parties had given their memorandum against Agnipath but their leaders and workers weren’t supposed to get involved in protest or demonstration of students and army job aspirants. He claimed that the three remaining accused too some connection with political parties.
Congress party district president in Saharanpur Muzaffar Ali Gurjar said that efforts were on to contact Panwar’s family to verify police claim and action against him.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday had approved a proposal to reserve 10 per cent of the job vacancies in the defence ministry for ‘Agniveers’ who meet eligibility criteria. This was described as a move to support those youths after the end of their four-year contract with the armed forces. The government has also decided to increase the upper age limit for recruitment of Agniveers from 21 years to 23 years for 2022.
(With ANI inputs)
