Kasaragod, Apr 22: The police in Kerala have arrested five youngsters in connection with the undeclared hartal of April 16 in the state over the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in a temple at Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.
The arrested have been identified as Amarnath (20), from Urukunnu in Kollam, Sudheesh (22), Akhil (23), Gokul Shekhar (21), and Cyril from Thiruvananthapuram. Interestingly all of them allegedly have links with saffron outifits. Amarnath was a prominent member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh till last year.
The police have charged the accused of inciting enmity between groups on the grounds of religion and remanded them in judicial custody. Senior police officers Debesh Kumar Behera and Jaleel Thottathil supervised the probe.
According to police, Amarnath was responsible for the online mobilisation for the flash hartal that put communities on edge and disrupted life in different parts of Kerala including Kasaragod district.
A Plus Two open university student, Amarnath deserted the RSS along with 30 others in his locality, including his father, last year.
Subsequently, he emerged as an influential leader among his friends and started criticising both RSS and Muslim groups. Others who had abandoned the RSS similarly formed the bulk of his followers on Facebook and WhatsApp.
Perinthalmanna DySP M P Mohanachandran, who probed the case, said that Kathua incident provided these youngsters an opportunity to became popular.
Encouraged by the swelling number of followers on the social media, he created two exclusive WhatsApp groups ‘Voice for Youth’ and ‘Justice for Sisters’. More people started joining the group and started condemning Sangh Parivar for its purported role in defending the accused in the brutal rape and murder.
SDPI denies role
According to police, Amarnath instigated the people to take to the streets rather than confining their agitation to social media. His message resonated strongly among netizens, including Muslim groups such as SDPI and PFI.
“The SDPI subsequently weaponised Amarnath’s posts about the Kathua incident and used its exclusive online messaging groups to invigorate its cadres and prompt them to unleash direct action in the physical realm”, a police officer was quoted as saying by local media.
However, SDPI leaders has denied the allegation of the police. Meanwhile, another Muslim party, Welfare Party of India, said that it had opposed the flash hartal.
Comments
Police did good job by uncovering the links. Should ban many saffron political wings.. under modi rule it wont happen..
I didnt understand how muslims became this much fools. Why they staged protest by a whatsapp msg that also faked by some cheddis.. People should be some more careful
Saffrons wanted to ban SDPI. That's why they planned and moved like this with a fake hartal. But atlast police revealed everything.. Hats off for the unbiased probe
True.. Modi ji did many good things, but media always highlighting negative things. And in Kathua rape issue, media making unwanted sensationalism to tarnish BJP image
Indian media highlighting only negativity and spreading their own assumptions.. Everything paid prestitutes.
As usual RSS is the mastermind of all violences. not only in Kerala, everywhere in India same condition
Add new comment