SIT To Probe Dharma Sansad ‘Hate Speech’ Case. Garhwal DIG Assures ‘Appropriate Action’

Garhwal Zone Deputy Inspector General (DIG) K.S. Nagnyal, who briefed in this regard, said appropriate action will be taken against those involved.

Screengrab of Yati Narasimhanand from the alleged video included in the complaint filed by Saket Gokhale.

Dehradun: A five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the matter concerning alleged hate speeches made during the recently held Dharma Sansad in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar city.

Garhwal Zone Deputy Inspector General (DIG) K.S. Nagnyal, who briefed in this regard, said appropriate action will be taken against those involved.

“We have constituted an SIT. It will carry out a probe. If solid evidence against those involved is found, appropriate action will be taken,” Nagnyal said.

Responding to a poser on whether some arrests were also likely in connection with this case, the senior police officer said definitely if the investigation leads to concrete evidence.

So far, an FIR has been lodged against five people, including Waseem Rizvi who changed his name to Jitendra Narayan Tyagi after converting to Hinduism last month, Sadhvi Annapurna, Dharamdas, a seer named Sindhu Sagar and the organiser of the Sansad Yati Narasimhanand, the head priest of Dasna temple in Ghaziabad, in connection with the case, PTI reported.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the hill state has come under tremendous pressure from different quarters post the Dharma Sansad, which took place from December 16 to 19 last year in Haridwar.

Expressing their ire, several retired police officers, including former DGPs of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, have written to Dhami.

Describing the Dharma Sansad as a blot on the state’s long tradition of peaceful coexistence of different religions, they have demanded action against organisers of the event which spread fear and terror.

The Dharma Sansad was organised by Yati Narasimhanand Giri of the Juna Akhada, who is already under police scanner for making hate speeches and inciting violence against the minorities in the past.