Loni Violence: Samajwadi Party Worker Ummaid Pehelwan Arrested Over Charge Of 'Communalising' Incident

The FIR stated that Idrisi had "unnecessarily" made the video -- in which Abdul Shamad Saifi narrates his ordeal -- with an intention to "create social disharmony" and shared it through his Facebook account.

First photo of Ummaid Pahalwan after his arrest. He was arrested near LNJP Hospital in Delhi after being booked for creating "social disharmony" in reference to Loni incident.

Ghaziabad: Local Samajwadi Party worker Ummaid Pehelwan has been arrested after he was booked in connection with the circulation of a communal video related to the assault on an elderly Muslim man, officials said on Friday.

The district police wanted Ummaid Pehelwan Idrisi to appear before it and record his statement in connection with the case.

"A team of Ghaziabad Police has arrested Ummed Pahalwan from near Lok Narayan Jai Prakash Hospital in Delhi. He will be brought here for further investigation,": SSP Ghaziabad informed.

The case against Idrisi was lodged at the Loni Border police station on Wednesday evening, a day after the Ghaziabad police booked Twitter, a news website, some journalists and opposition Congress politicians in a separate FIR over the circulation of the video in which the elderly Muslim claimed attack by some young men who also "forced" him to chant "Jai Shri Ram".

Filed on the complaint of a local policeman, the FIR stated that Idrisi had "unnecessarily" made the video -- in which Abdul Shamad Saifi narrates his ordeal -- with an intention to "create social disharmony" and shared it through his Facebook account.

"The Ghaziabad police wants him to join the probe and get his statement recorded. He is absconding at the moment and searches are underway to find him. We have also written to social media sites to share with us whatever information they have about him," SSP Pathak had told news agency PTI earlier.

According to officials, Idrisi had been moving around to prevent his arrest by the police.

He was booked under IPC Sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups on ground of religion, class etc), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (public mischief).

A separate FIR was lodged against him on Thursday evening in Bulandshahr district that charged him and around 100 others with violation of the Covid-19 norms by holding a public gathering on June 16, the officials said.

(With Agency Inputs)