Haldwani: The Uttarakhand Police have arrested 25 more people in connection with the violence that erupted in the Banbhoolpura area of Haldwani Thursday over the demolition of an allegedly illegal mosque-cum madrasa, and have seized several arms and rounds of ammunition from them between Saturday and Sunday, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Nainital, Prahlad Narayan Meena said in a press conference Sunday evening.
The SSP said that in the FIR related to stone-pelting filed at Banbhoolpura Police Station, 12 accused have been nabbed, while six others have been arrested for offences related to arson directed at police vehicles. The remaining seven were arrested in the case related to an FIR registered by the Haldwani Municipal Corporation, said the SSP.
This takes the total number of arrests to 30.
ThePrint had earlier reported that three FIRs had been filed in connection with the violence — one in the case of stone pelting at Banbhoolpura, one for damage to public property and one based on a complaint by the municipal commissioner.
The Police have also recovered seven country-made weapons and 54 live rounds of cartridges from the arrested, along with live cartridges allegedly looted from the police station during the chaos that ensued in the wake of the stone pelting.
SSP Meena said that there is ammunition and one weapon still left to be recovered that was looted from the local police station.
Teams looking for Abdul Malik
Amid reports of Abdul Malik’s arrest, SSP Meena told reporters that police teams formed to investigate the case are yet to arrest the alleged owner of the encroachment where the demolition took place.
There were some media reports Sunday claiming Malik had been arrested by Uttarakhand Police from Delhi.
SSP Meena said that the police are also conducting searches in the area near the demolition site near Malik ka Bagicha and declined reports of any exodus of people from the area.
He said that out of five victims of the violence, the body of one Prakash Kumar, who had come from Bihar the same day, was recovered far from the site of the violence. However, he refused to divulge details of the case, saying it was part of an ongoing investigation.
ThePrint has learnt Kumar was shot in the head thrice.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)