Dharma Sansad Case: 5 Accused Identified So Far For Haridwar Hate Speech, Uttarakhand Cops Say

As per the acquisitions, an event was organised in Haridwar by Yati Narsinghanand and the other in Delhi by 'Hindu Yuva Vahini' allegedly "calling for a genocide of members" of the Muslim community.

Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar | Image: ANI

New Delhi: The Uttarakhand Police said on Friday that they have identified five persons so far in the Dharma Sansad case pertaining to alleged hate speeches given in Haridwar. The police did not disclose the names of any of the accused "identified" by the police. 

The first arrest in the case was made on Thursday when Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, who was Waseem Rizvi earlier, was picked up by the Uttarakhand Police for allegedly making inciting remarks and hate speech against a particular community at a Dharam Sansad in Haridwar in December last year.

Rozvi was earlier the head of Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board. He recently converted to Hinduism and started to call himself Jitendra Narayan Tyagi.  

Rizvi was arrested from Narsan border in Roorkee, news agency PTI quoted Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Yogendra Rawat as saying.

As per the acquisitions, an event was organised in Haridwar by Yati Narsinghanand and the other in Delhi by 'Hindu Yuva Vahini' allegedly "calling for the genocide of members" of the Muslim community.

The Dharam Sansad event was organised in Haridwar from December 17-19. 

Names of Yati Narasimhananda and Sagar Sindhuraj were later added to the FIR in connection with the case, after their videos surfaced on social media in which they could be seen delivering provocative speeches and inciting violence against the minority community.

In all, more than 10 persons have been named in the FIRs lodged in connection with the matter.

Asked if there will be more arrests now, the SSP said that will depend on how the probe progresses, the PTI report said.

Ahead of elections in the state, the Uttarakhand government has been under pressure from different quarters to take action against those present at the Haridwar event and delivered the provocative speeches.

The Supreme Court also pulled up the state government earlier this week for not acting against the accused even so many days after the videos went public.