Muzaffarnagar Riots: After the non-bailable warrant was issued in the Muzaffarnagar riot case, many BJP leaders including Uttar Pradesh Minister Kapil Dev Agarwal, former Ministers Suresh Rana and Ashok Kataria, former BJP MLA Ashok Kansal, former MP Bhartendu Singh met MLAs/MPs in Muzaffarnagar on Tuesday. Appeared in court.
Special Judge Devendra Faujdar has fixed November 16 for framing charges against the accused. Meanwhile, Dasna temple priest Yati Narsimhanand did not appear in the court and a non-bailable warrant was again issued against him. The court ordered all the accused to appear on the scheduled date.
Prosecution officer Neeraj Singh said on Tuesday, ‘Uttar Pradesh minister Kapil Dev Aggarwal, former Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan, VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi, former minister Suresh Rana, former MP Bhartendu Singh, former MLA Umesh Malik and Ashok Kansal, priests of Dasna temple. A case was registered against 20 people including Yeti Narsimhanand.
There was a riot in August 2013
According to the prosecution, the accused had attended a panchayat in Nagalamador village in August 2013 and given an inflammatory speech. More than 60 people were killed and more than 40,000 displaced in the 2013 communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts.
However, in September last year, the local court had acquitted 10 accused due to lack of evidence. The accused who were acquitted by the court included Gaurav, Amarpal, Rocky, Ratan, Dinesh, Yogesh, Abhishek, Ruby, Kapil Kumar and Manoj Kumar.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Anjani Kumar Singh, while acquitting all the 10 accused, had said that the prosecution had failed to prove its allegations. This order was passed on September 26 last and was made available two days later. She was accused that the rioters had beaten her husband Ashu to death on September 8, 2013.