The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted searches at 30 locations in Bengaluru in connection with its probe in last month’s riots.

It arrested Sayed Saddiq Ali, a bank recovery agency in connection with the riots. According to the NIA, 44-year-old Ali is a key conspirator in the riots which ravaged the city last month. Four people were killed in the violence, including three in the police firing.

The riots had broken out on the night of August 11 over an alleged derogatory social media post by the relative of a Congress MLA.

The NIA had formally taken over the probe in the riots case on Tuesday. It said that Ali had been absconding since the night the riots took place.

The agency further said that it found airgun, pellets, sharp weapons and iron rods during the searches. It also said some digital devices and many incriminating documents related to Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the Popular Front of India (PFI) were recovered in the raids.

More than 300 people, including some SDPI members, have been arrested in connection with the arson and violence in the city on August 11 night, targeting the Pulakeshinagar Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy and his sister over a purported inflammatory social media post.

The BJP has blamed the SDPI, a political outfit of Popular Front of India, for the riots and demanded a ban on the organisation.

The SDPI has however rejected the charges as ‘baseless’.