Five persons, including a journalist, were arrested in connection with the alleged 'conspiracy' to trigger sectarian clashes in Uttar Pradesh following the alleged 'gang rape' and brutal murder of a Dalit girl in Hathras district.
The state police, which lodged as many as 19 cases in this regard, have booked workers of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Bhim Army, a 'Dalit' outfit on charges of trying to instigate violence and violating Covid-19 guidelines.
Former BJP legislator Rajveer Singh was also booked, sources said.
Police sources said that five persons, who were associated with the Popular Front of India (PFI), an organisation that UP wanted banned, were arrested from Mathura while on way to Hathras on Tuesday.
It later turned out that one of the arrested persons, identified as Sddique Kappan, was a Delhi-based journalist, who wrote for several news websites in Kerala.
The police claimed that they had recovered laptop, cell phones and other incriminating documents from their possession.
The cops claimed that an 'unknown' female journalist had also been booked on charges of trying to pressurise the Hathras victim's brother to get her parents to give statements against the state government.
The arrests came a day after the UP government claimed that there was an "international conspiracy" to instigate sectarian violence in UP and tarnish the image of the state after the Hathras incident.
A senior police official here said that more arrests were likely as the process of identifying the trouble makers was on.
The Dalit teen had been brutally assaulted by four youths and died in the hospital. The family members alleged that she was gang raped. The police allegedly held her family and hostage and cremated the body at midnight on Tuesday. All the four accused have been arrested.
The police claimed that the postmortem report and forensic examination of the Hathras victim did not confirm 'rape or gang rape' and that she had died owing to an injury on her neck.