Hathras Case | Fake Website With PFI Links: Know The Suspected Criminal Conspiracy To Incite Caste-Based Riots

On Monday, four people, said to have links with alleged radical group Popular Front of India (PFI) and an associate outfit, were arrested at Mathura while they were on their way to Hathras from Delhi.

Police personnel stand guard blocking a road near the premises of the relatives of the 19-year-old woman allegedly gang-raped and killed by four men in Bool Garhi of Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh state on October 3, 2020. - Five senior police officers have been suspended over their handling of an investigation into the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman that has sparked outrage across India and triggered days of protests. (Photo by Pawan SHARMA / AFP)

Hathras Case: Attempts to incite communal violence are being suspected in Hathras over the alleged gangrape and murder case of 19-year-old Dalit woman which has already triggered a wave of protests across the country. On Monday, four people, said to have links with alleged radical group Popular Front of India (PFI) and an associate outfit, were arrested at Mathura while they were on their way to Hathras from Delhi. The four were taken into custody at Mathura's Math toll plaza where the police were checking vehicles after receiving a tip off that some suspicious people were on their way to Hathras from Delhi. The four were enroute Hathras in their car and their mobile phones, laptop and some literature, which could have an impact on peace and order, were seized, police officials were cited by news agency PTI. The four men identified themselves as Atiq-ur Rehman of Muzaffarnagar , Siddique of Malappuram ,Masood Ahmed of Bahraich and Alam of Rampur. After police interrogation, it surfaced  that they had links with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associate organisation Campus Front of India (CFI). It is to be noted that PFI or the Popular Front of India is an alleged radical group, that has been accused of funding certain protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that took place across the country earlier this year. The Uttar Pradesh police had earlier sought a ban on the organization. Fake Website To Incite Communal Violence? Meanwhile, it has also surfaced that an FIR was registered by the Hathras police against a website for criminal conspiracy to incite communal violence in Uttar Pradesh over the Hathras case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is examining the FIR which suspects that a website named 'JusticeforHathras' was created to disseminate fake information related to the Hathras incident to provoke caste-related violence across the state, where caste lines are deep and entrenched. Citing sources, news agency IANS, said that after the website was tracked and some related places were raided, the site deactivated and disappeared overnight. However, the law and order agencies have secured all the inflammatory content of the website. The police said the website shared information about nationwide protests on the Hathras case and ways to evade police action. As per the agency,  the website was also used as a platform for raising foreign funds on the same pattern as anti-CAA rioting in Delhi, sources said, adding that radical extremist groups like PFI could be behind it. Hathras has been in the headlines after the alleged gangrape of a 19-year-old woman  who later succumbed to her injuries a fortnight later at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. Later, her hurried cremation at midnight had brought the district administration at the centre of cricticisms. The incident which is a grim reminder of the 2012 Nirbhaya case, had triggered similar nationwide protests. Watch full report here: