NSUI leader among 7 more arrested in Balodabazar arson case; 145 people held so far

Balodabazar (Chhattisgarh), Jun 26 (PTI) Seven more people, including a leader of Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), have been arrested in connection with large-scale violence and arson during a demonstration in Chhattisgarh’s Balodabazar city earlier this month, police said on Wednesday.

With this, so far 145 people, including members of an outfit named Bhim Regiment, have been arrested in connection with the arson attack on a government complex and stone pelting on June 10 during a demonstration called by the Satnami community to protest desecration of a revered structure, police said.

Police were identifying and apprehending individuals involved in the arson and stone pelting after scanning CCTV footage, videos and on the basis of technical evidence gathered so far.

“In this line, seven more accused persons, including Suryakant Verma (25), a local NSUI leader, were arrested on Tuesday,” a police official said.

Of these seven, one Rahul Tandon (36) had allegedly looted a mobile phone of a person in the district collectorate office premises which was recovered from him, he said.

Reacting to Verma’s arrest, state president of NSUI Neeraj Pandey claimed police have failed to nab the real culprits and hence they are implicating leaders of the Congress’s student wing.

Verma was present at a meeting organised as a part of the demonstration by the Satnami community but he was not in the crowd that engaged in vandalism, he asserted.

On June 10, a mob set fire to a complex housing government offices, including those of the district collector and the Superintendent of Police, and also torched more than 150 vehicles, including two-wheelers and four-wheelers, in Balodabazar city during a demonstration called by the Satnami community to denounce desecration of a religious structure last month.

Unidentified persons vandalized ‘jaitkham’ or ‘victory pillar’, a sacred symbol worshipped by Satnami community members, near the holy Amar Gufa at Giroudpuri Dham in the Balodabazar-Bhatapara district on the intervening night of May 15-16.

Police subsequently arrested three persons in connection with the incident.

To protest against the desecration, the influential community called for a demonstration at Dussehra Maidan in Balodabazar city on June 10, and also a ‘gherao’ (laying siege) at the district collector’s office.

As the agitation led to arson and stone-pelting, the district administration imposed section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, prohibiting assembly of four or more persons in Balodabazar city.

The Satnami community, founded by medieval-era social reformer Baba Guru Ghasidas, represents the largest Scheduled Castes group in Chhattisgarh.