A BJP leader was arrested today for his derogatory tweets on Prophet Muhammad, four days after the violence that erupted in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur. Harshit Srivastava, an office bearer of the BJP Youth Wing, was trying to spoil the atmosphere through his objectionable posts, police said.
"We will act against anyone who tries to play with religious sentiments," said Kanpur Police Commissioner Vijay Meena.
The tweets by the leader have been deleted since.
Violence broke out in parts of Kanpur after Friday prayers as members of two groups clashed and threw stones at each other over a call to shut down markets in protest against BJP leader Nupur Sharma for her comments against Prophet Muhammad during a TV debate on the Gyanvapi mosque issue.
The BJP had on Sunday suspended Ms Sharma and expelled its Delhi unit media head Naveen Jindal for their remarks on the Prophet. The remarks had drawn massive backlash from around the world with 16 countries condemning the controversial comments.
On Monday, the Kanpur police had released posters with 40 images of people allegedly involved in the violence. Police are said to have gathered images of the alleged accused through several videos of the incident, including those captured on CCTV and mobile phones.
Over 50 people, including key accused Zafar Hayat, have been arrested so far and a case filed against over 1,500 named and unnamed people in connection with the violence that left more than 40 injured.
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