Uttar Pradesh: DGP Orders SIT Probe In Violence During Anti-Citizenship Act Protests

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) will probe cases of violence during the recent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Uttar Pradesh. The Director General of Police (DGP) OP Singh ordered the SIT probe in these incidents of violence. The SIT in each district will be headed by an officer of Additional SP level. The SIT will be headed by Additional SP (Crime) or Additional SP (City) of the district. More than 1,100 people are under arrest and 5,558 kept in preventive detention following violence related to the anti-citizenship amendment act protests, officials said on Thursday, putting the death toll in police clashes across the state at 19.

Singh also assured that no innocent person will be troubled during the investigation, while no accused will arrested without evidence.

In Kanpur, SIT was constituted on Wednesday to probe cases of rioting registered there. The SIT will be headed by Additional SP (Crime) Rajesh Yadav, IG (Kanpur range) Mohit Agarwal said.

Giving details of the protests that have rocked the country's most populous state since last week, police officials said five people were killed in Firozabad, four in Meerut, three in Kanpur, two each in Sambhal and Bijnor and one each in Muzaffarnagar, Rampur and Lucknow. This tally does not take into account the eight-year-old killed in Varanasi on December 20.

"The eight-year-old was not killed in police action but in a stampede when protesters were retreating," a senior police official told PTI on condition of anonymity. One of those injured in Firozabad is in a "very critical" condition, he said.

"During raids at various places, police recovered 35 illegal weapons which were used during the riots to fire at the police," the official said. He added that police also recovered 647 empty cartridges from various places in the state. The state police cracked down on possible troublemakers and kept 5,558 people in preventive detention. As many as 351 policemen were also injured in the anti-CAA protests, he said.