The police have registered nine FIRs against 22 key accused and several others in connection with Tuesday night’s riots and arson in DJ Halli and KG Halli in east and northeastern Bengaluru.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police also arrested 10 main suspects, all members of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which is named in the FIRs.
On Thursday, among the 147 arrested persons, 15 main accused have been taken into police custody while others have been sent to Parappana Agrahara central prison. Three suspects who tested Covid-19 positive have been admitted to the Covid-19 ward.
The FIRs revealed that members of the SDPI were behind the riots.
Acknowledging this, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai also told reporters that the ongoing investigation revealed the role of the SDPI, whose members Firoz Pasha, Muzzamil, Ayaz and others were among the 10 arrested on Thursday.
The nine FIRs registered in DJ Halli and KG Halli limits have revealed names of 22 persons, of whom 16 have already been identified as SDPI members in the FIR.
Of the nine FIRs, seven cases have been registered suo motu by the police and one case against P Naveen, nephew of the MLA, who allegedly posted the blasphemous post on Facebook.
Based on the complaint by a social activist Firdos Pasha, the police registered an FIR against Naveen.
The suo motu cases include those of the mob attack on the MLA’s house in Kavalbyrasandra, preventing them from discharging their duties and ransacking public property.
The remaining seven FIR’s are with respect to the mob ransacking the DJ Halli and KG Halli police stations, torching of vehicles. The list of accused persons named in the FIR includes Abbas, Fairoz, Muzzamil Pasha (SDPI district secretary), Habeeb, Peer Pasha, Ziya, Kaleem, Kerchief Sadeeq, Javeed, Mujju, Sadiq, Vinobhanagar Asif, Govindapura Syed, Farhan, Masood, Saif, Afnan, Ayaz, Allabaksh, Nawaz, Naseer, Syed Ajaj and 300 others.
Refusing to divulge any more details pertaining to the investigation, Bommai said, “The inquiry is underway and new aspects are coming out. I can’t reveal much now. Things will be made known in the days to come. But with video footage and other evidence, the role of the SDPI has come to the fore. We are going deeper with the investigation. Several SDPI office bearers have been held.”
The SDPI, however, had denied any role in the violence. SDPI Karnataka president Elyas Muhammad Thumbe said Pasha was helping the police calm the mob. “As always, the SDPI is being dragged just to cover up police inaction against blasphemy and failure of intelligence,” he said.