Two members of Popular Front of India or the PFI were arrested for the violence in Lucknow.
Lucknow Police has claimed that the Popular Front of India or the PFI, an Islamic group with its headquarters in Delhi and its strongest base in Kerala is behind the violence in the Uttar Pradesh capital on Thursday during protests over the new citizenship law. The violence had left one person dead, government property, broadcasting vans of TV channels and private vehicles destroyed.
In a press conference on Monday evening, the Lucknow police chief announced the arrest of what the police say are two key members of the outfit in Uttar Pradesh . The police say they are the masterminds of the violence. These men allegedly used social media, pamphlets and postcards to incite people to gather in Lucknow and carry out violent protests. The arrested men are Nadeem and Ashfaq , and both are key members of the PFI in Uttar Pradesh, the police say . Cops have also named Mohd Shoaib, a human rights lawyer with a stellar record , as a co-conspirator in the case.
"We looked at their WhatsApp chats. We found that people were being incited to violence. We found anti-NRC and CAA material on them. The PFI has footprints in 13 states and is trying to establish itself in this area. We found many flags, pamphlets , paper cuttings , postcards that helped them to get outside elements from other districts and states to carry out violent protests," Lucknow police chief Kalanidhi Naithani said.
Lucknow Police also claims the organisation is active in 13 districts across Uttar Pradesh and has been trying to get in foothold in Lucknow and districts nearby for a while. The cops claim the PFI used the citizenship law protests to publicise their organisation in Lucknow.
In a press release issued from Delhi, the PFI has called the actions of Uttar Pradesh Police as political vendetta and said the charges are false. The outfit has accepted that the arrested men are leaders of their front but claimed they are being falsely being implicated for the violence.
Meanwhile, the BJP government in Assam has already claimed that the PFI was involved in violent protests in Guwahati last week against the Citizenship Act. "We are getting certain evidences that the PFI as well as certain activists of the Congress party are clearly involved in the violence. We have also recovered certain electronic evidences which clearly show that Janata Bhawan (state secretariat) attack was controlled from a different location," Himanta Biswa Sarma, a powerful minister in Assam told NDTV.