Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were arrested on Monday in connection with the violence that erupted in Maharashtra’s Amravati city during a shutdown observed by the party on Saturday, The Indian Express reported.
The arrested persons were former Maharashtra minister Anil Bonde, Amravati Mayor Chetan Gavande, the district BJP chief Nivedita Choudhary and Amravati Municipal Corporation leader of house Tushar Bharatiya, according to ANI. Officials are also searching for BJP MLC from Amravati, Praveen Pote, who is reportedly missing.
The BJP had observed the shutdown on Saturday in response to a protest staged by a Muslim organisation on Friday against the recent communal violence in Tripura. The protestors had allegedly thrown stones at BJP leader Pravin Pote’s home.
During the bandh, shops owned by Muslims were targeted. Reports also emerged of a dargah and a temple being attacked in Amravati on Saturday.
“It appears that the violence had been planned a day in advance in retaliation for the violence on Friday by some members of the minority community,” an unidentified police officer had told The Indian Express.
A total of 14 people were arrested on Monday in connection with the violence in Amravati, according to the Hindustan Times. They were booked for inciting violence and illegal gathering. However, a court granted them bail in the evening.
Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik alleged that cash and liquor had been distributed to incite violence in the city, the Hindustan Times reported.
“A large amount of cash was sent from Mumbai to Amravati that was distributed through MLAs and a probe is going on into this,” Malik claimed. “BJP comes out with the weapon of riots to do their politics as a last resort after all its other weapons have failed.”
The minister said he hoped that the people of Maharashtra were wise and would not accept “conspiracies and destructive politics”. “They [the people] have thwarted their [the BJP’s] plans,” Malik said.
On the other hand, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis described the arrests as “appeasement politics”, The Indian Express reported.
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