Madhya Pradesh police have arrested four persons named Altamash Khan, Imran Ansari, Javed Khan and Sayyed Irfan for conspiring to incite communal riots by firing bullets at rallies organized by Hindu organizations.
Reportedly, the four had put out inflammatory messages on social media to protest against the Muslim bangle seller incident that took place in Indore last week. As per a Tribune report, the MP government has found evidence that one of the men arrested has links with Pakistan through social media.
While interacting with media, MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra informed, “As per the evidence found (during the investigation), one of the arrested persons, Altamash Khan, who staged a protest at a police station (in Indore) after the bangle seller incident, has links with Pakistan through Whatsapp and Facebook.”
Mishra also informed that the mastermind Altamash Khan is associated with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) headed by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. As per reports, the arrested group was planning to fire bullets at the Hindu rallies and thus trigger riots in the entire area.
इंदौर में सांप्रदायिक सौहार्द बिगाड़ने की कोशिश में शामिल और @asadowaisi की पार्टी से जुड़े आरोपी अल्तमस खान के तार पाकिस्तान से जुड़े होने के भी सबूत मिले हैं।
— Dr Narottam Mishra (@drnarottammisra) August 30, 2021
अल्तमस के पास से पुलिस को कई तरह की आपत्तिजनक सामग्री मिली हैं, जिससे प्रदेश की शांति व्यवस्था को खतरा था। pic.twitter.com/CqOfnr3Z22
The Home Minister further said that several objectionable materials, including videos and audios, were found in the possession of Khan. There were plans to release these videos gradually, he said.
“The objectionable material found with Khan was enough to disturb the peace in the area. Interrogation of these four arrested people is underway,” said Mishra further.
Altamash Khan’s conspiracy
SP Rajesh Raghuvanshi caught hold of Khan after he circulated a fake message alleging that Bhim Army was to hold a protest against the Hindu organization Jagran Manch. Police also recovered deleted messages from Khan which led them to the three other accused in the case.
Khan also had created a Whatsapp group named ‘Bhagwa Love Trap’ in counter to ‘Love Jihad’ in which he issued advice for Muslim girls to wear burqa and not use mobiles.
The four arrested, all in the age of 20 to 30 years are said to be inspired by radical ideology.
As per the police, the accused spread inflammatory messages on social media with the intention to trigger communal riots. They wanted to create discontent among people over some recent incidents in the city to instigate violence.
The four have been booked under Section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) along with other sections of the Indian Penal Code. The police may also invoke the NSA against the arrested persons.
Bangle seller held for harassing minor girl
Tasleem Ali, a 25-year-old bangle seller was arrested by Indore police for inappropriately touching and harassing a 13-year-old girl. He was also found to be carrying Aadhar cards under different names.
A video in which Ali was seen getting beaten by a group of men in the Govind Nagar area after harassing the girl went viral on social media. The video was used by the left ecosystem to allege communal hate crime. The persons who had thrashed the bangle sellers were booked by the police too.
Making use of this incident, Altamash Khan along with associates had reportedly planned to incite communal riots.
