Prophet Remark Row: UP Authorities Demolish 'Illegal Properties' Linked To Accused Of Kanpur And Saharanpur Violence

"Nizam Qureshi has been arrested from Kanpur in connection with the June 3 incident," the officer said, adding that the accused had gone underground since the violence took place.

The Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) demolished a multi-storey building allegedly owned by a close air of the main accused in the stone-pelting incident that took place during a protest last week on Saturday, the police told news agency PTI. 

The police also arrested a Nizam Qureshi, who is being named as another mastermind of the June 3 violence. Qureshi was among the 36 accused whose names were mentioned in the FIR lodged soon after the violence, a police official told PTI. 

The arrest was confirmed by Kanpur’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Anand Prakash Tiwari. 

"Nizam Qureshi has been arrested from Kanpur in connection with the June 3 incident," the officer said, adding that the accused had gone underground since the violence took place.

According to PTI sources in the police, Qureshi shared incendiary messages on social media platforms and provoked people to indulge in stone-pelting. The investigators are scrutinising Qureshi’s phone and try to recover information related to the violence. 

"Qureshi was one of the key conspirators of the Kanpur violence. Messages from his mobile phones were sent to over half-a-dozen other mobile phones that are now being tracked," said a senior official, requesting anonymity.

PTI reported that Qureshi is the head of the Jamiatul Qureshi, an unofficial body of the Qureshi Community in Kanpur. He is also a former district secretary of the Samajwadi Party (SP). District SP chief Imran told PTI that Qureshi was expelled from the party on May 22 for anti-party activities and not taking interest in the party's programmes.

A police officer told PTI that some crucial information related to the violence was also found in a social media group of which the prime accused in the violence, Zafar Hayat Hashmi, was a member. 

On Friday, a UP court remanded Hashmi, Jawed Ahmad Khan, Mohammad Rahil, and Sufiyan in police custody for three days.

"The accused were taken into police custody on Saturday morning and will remain in custody till Tuesday morning," Tiwari said.

Violence broke out in Kanpur on June 3 after some people gathered demanding strict action against former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma over her comments on Prophet Mohammad.

At least 40 people, including some police personnel, were injured in the Kanpur violence. The rioters hurled petrol bombs and damaged public properties, including shops and vehicles, PTI reported.

Meanwhile, UP Chief Minister Adityanath issued a stern warning saying ''no innocent should be harassed, but not a single guilty should be spared."

Civic bodies in Saharanpur also razed the allegedly illegal properties of two accused identified through CCTV footage, PTI reported. 

Asserting that protesting an "insult" to Prophet Mohammad is a constitutional right of Muslims, prominent Muslim outfit Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind said the denial of this right through "indiscriminate arrests", police firing and the use of bulldozers was a "disgrace" to any democratic government.