Muzaffarnagar: A local court today issued arrest warrants against a BSP MP, BJP and BSP MLAs, besides several politicians and senior community leaders for allegedly inciting violence through inflammatory speeches here.
Following which, BJP MLA Sangeet Som, against whom arrest warrant has been issued, said he was ready for arrest and demanded a CBI inquiry into the entire issue.
The arrest warrants have been issued against 16 politicians and community leaders including BSP MP Qadir Rana, BJP MLAs Sangeet Som and Bhartendu Singh, BSP MLAs Noor Saleem and Maulana Jameel, Congress leader Saeeduzaman and BKU chief Naresh Tikait, police said.
Action will be taken against them in two days, Senior Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar said.
"We have arrested three to four politicians...we have collected some evidence...some more evidence is to be collected and very soon will be arrested...whoever is guilty will be arrested in two days...this is subject to investigation," he said.
They are wanted for violating prohibitory orders and provoking communal tension by inflammatory speeches in different meetings (mahapanchayats) in the district, police said.
Ten police teams have been rushed to arrest those against whom warrants have been issued, a senior official said
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Sangeet Som, termed the allegations as "completely baseless and far from the truth," and claimed that the government was getting cases registered against him to appease a particular section of society.
"I have myself demanded a CBI inquiry into the entire episode and I, along with all the MLAs, am ready for arrest, but the government should act correctly and uphold the truth," Som, who appeared in the UP Assembly despite arrest warrant against him, told reporters.
"I am being accused of instigating the people by giving inflammatory speech...if that is is the case, there would be a CD...they should show it," Som, an MLA from Sardhana, said.
The BJP MLA exhorted the government to act judiciously.
"Government should take cognisance of the truth and before anyone else, get (UP Cabinet Minister) Azam Khan arrested, as TV channels are showing his involvement in the riots...but that would not be done," Som alleged.
Denying that his party had convened a panchayat in Muzaffarnagar in violation of prohibitory orders imposed there, Som said had that been the case, there would have been flags and banners of the BJP, which were not there.
"The panchayat was called by the Kisan union and we were invited as people's representatives...and if we had not gone, it would have been wrong," he said.
Som faces a non-bailable warrant for allegedly posting a fake video online that instigated tension in the western region.
The communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas claimed 47 lives and displaced over 40,000 people.