Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has decided that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will probe cases of violence during the recent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state. The Director General of Police (DGP) O.P. Singh has ordered the SIT probe.

According to IANS, the DGP said that the SIT, in each district, will be headed by an officer of an Additional SP rank. The SIT will be headed by Additional SP (Crime) or Additional SP (City) of the district.

In view of the violent protests that erupted in Uttar Pradesh last week, the administration has decided to suspend mobile internet services in several districts of the state on Friday. The Uttar Pradesh government has decided all telecom operators except BSNL to suspend mobile internet and SMS services in Lucknow on December 27 ahead of Friday prayers.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested and 5,558 kept in preventive detention following violence related to anti-CAA protests in the past one week. The police has put the death toll in clashes across the state at 19.

During raids at various places, the police recovered 35 illegal weapons which were used during the riots to fire at the police. A police official said that 647 empty cartridges were also recovered from various places in the state.

Additional Director General (ADG) Prashant Kumar on Thursday said 317 people have been arrested and 79 cases registered in connection with the violence during the anti- CAA protests in Meerut.

"79 cases have been registered and 317 were arrested. 108 police personnel are injured in which 10 sustained firearm injuries. Ten administration officials and 7 people including some journalists also sustained injuries. Five people lost their lives in the violence," Kumar told ANI. "The administration is educating people on CAA and we are also monitoring social media.

On the arrest of two people from Meerut's Nauchangi, Kumar said: "Two men of Popular Front of India's wing SDPI were arrested. One of them is the state chief of the organisation. We have found some objectionable literature from them. "In Shamli, some people from this organisation were arrested earlier. The police had also recovered such literature from their office in Meerut. We are investigating the organisation's role," he said.