Police probing right-wing link in Mainpuri violence

LUCKNOW: Further arrests are likely to happen in the Karhal-Mainpuri incident as the police are probing the involvement of some leaders linked to organisations with right-wing leanings. As many as 21 persons were held by the police on Sunday, a day after a mob went on rampage in Karhal town of Mainpuri district in Uttar Pradesh.

Rumors did the rounds in Karhal that two butchers were caught slaughtering cow. As the rumor spread, a large crowd gathered outside the shop of these butchers who were manhandled by the crowd. The police had to resort to firing in the air to disperse the violent crowd.

“The rumor was spread with the intention to spread communal tension. It seems like a planned incident and we are hopeful of naming these conspirators soon” said a senior government officials monitoring the probe.

District Magistrate, Mainpuri, Chandra Pal Singh said “The cow which was suspected to have been slaughtered had died of illness.

The post mortem done on the cow shows that it had been dead for a while. Those who had removed the dead cow were skinning it which led to rumors.” The Karhal incident has come just after the mob lynching in Bisada-Dadri where Mohd Ikhlaq was killed by a mob suspecting him to have slaughtered a cow and consumed beef.