Days After Adityanath's 'Warning', 28 People Asked to Pay Rs 14L for Damage During Anti-CAA Violence

New Delhi: The Rampur district administration on Tuesday issued notices to at least 28 people in a bid to recover the damage to government property during protests against the amended Citizenship Act. This comes days after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had warned those who were involved in violence during demonstrations of "revenge" for the losses including damage of police motorcycles, barrier, sticks.

The notice states that the protest, which also witnessed police crackdown and the death of 16 people, incurred a loss of property worth Rs 14,86,500. The 28 people, who have been held responsible for the vandalism, include an embroidery worker and a hawker of spices who are already in custody, The Indian Express reported.

They received identical notices, which list, a police jeep of Bhot police station worth Rs 7,50,000, motorcycle of a sub-inspector costing Rs 65,000, motorcycle of City Kotwali police station worth Rs 90,000, wireless set, hooter/loudspeaker, 10 sticks, three helmets, three body protectors among others. The notice also sought explanation on why the government should not demand the recovery of such a huge loss.

The district administration said the notices were issued in line with a state government order based on an earlier ruling of the Allahabad High Court. “We issued notices to 28 persons whose role were found by police during investigation,” Rampur District Magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh was quoted as saying.

Police have video clips and photographs, including from media houses and local residents. Police have also collected footage of CCTVs near the incident site.

So far 33 people have been arrested and more than 150 identified in connection with the violence in Rampur, the police said. Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had broken out in several districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, leaving at least 16 people dead and moveable and immoveable assets damaged, mostly in arson.

Police have pasted the pictures of people involved in violence and announced that the informers will be awarded. So far 26 people have been sent to jail and several others have been picked up on the basis of photos released by police.

Notices are being served to those offenders who have either fled homes or are untraceable, police officials said.

"The accused persons have been asked to reach police station through notice to clear their stand by Thursday. In case they failed to appear, their property may be attached," CO (Kotwali) VP Singh said.

On Wednesday, a team of district administration visited violence hit areas - Reti, Nakhas and Ghantaghar - and assessed the loss which have been caused to public property during violence.

Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted on Wednesday to probe cases of rioting registered here during recent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The SIT that will go into the cases of violence in Kanpur will be headed by Additional SP (Crime) Rajesh Yadav, IG (Kanpur range) Mohit Agarwal said.

The SIT was constituted following the directives of the Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) for conducting a fair probe into the cases of violence.

As many as four cases - three with Beckonganj police station and another with Babupurwa police station - have been transferred to the SIT.

The SIT would be better equipped to deal with the electronic gadgets to track down the culprits, especially because social media and WhatsApp were used to bring the alleged rioters together, said an official.

The team would be given access to all data from areas under the jurisdiction of police stations where the clashes occurred, Senior SP Kanpur Anant Deo Tewari said. Anti-CAA protestors on Saturday set Yatimkhana police post on fire and indulged in intense brick-batting.

Two persons had died in Friday's clashes here between the protesters and police and another succumbed to injuries at a hospital on Sunday.

Police had to lob tear-gas shells and use canes to disperse them and fire tenders were rushed to control the flame.

Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had broken out in several districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, leaving at least 17 people dead and moveable and immoveable assets damaged, mostly in arson.

In Lucknow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday slammed those who damaged public property during protests in Uttar Pradesh against the amended citizenship law, saying they should introspect.

"They (the vandals) should ask themselves was it right. Whatever was torched, was it not of their child's use? What has happened to those common people and policemen who got injured?" Modi asked at a public meeting.

He said he wanted to tell those who damaged public property "not to forget that rights and duties go hand in hand".

BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to conduct a thorough probe into the deaths during anti-citizenship law protests and help the innocent victims.

"The maximum number of deaths during CAA/NRC protests were in UP. The state government should conduct a probe into these deaths accurately and come forward to help the (families of) innocent ones," Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi.