Kanpur/Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Police Saturday booked 500 individuals for rioting and violence in Kanpur that left 40 injured, officers mentioned, as an uneasy calm prevailed within the affected areas this morning.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and order) Anand Prakash Tiwari mentioned 18 individuals have been arrested to this point over the Friday incident, and a few others are detained for questioning.

“The area is peaceful and we are maintaining a round-the-clock vigil,” he mentioned, including some suspects had been detained in a single day by totally different police groups.

Three FIRs over rioting and violence have been lodged in opposition to over 500 individuals, Tiwari mentioned.

The violence broke out in Pared, Nai Sadak and Yateemkhana areas of the town after Friday namaz when some individuals tried to drive shopkeepers to down shutters over allegedly insulting remarks made by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma throughout a TV debate not too long ago, a senior police official had mentioned Friday.

At least 40 individuals together with 20 police personnel had been injured in the course of the clashes, police mentioned on Saturday.

Those who allegedly pressured merchants to close outlets clashed with police personnel who used batons to disperse the mob.

Additional Director General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar has warned that these concerned can be booked below the stringent Gangsters Act and their properties seized or demolished.

end-of