A Nagpur court has ordered that 17 individuals arrested in connection with recent city-wide violence be held in police custody until March 22. The accused were presented before Magistrate Maimuna Sultana on Thursday night, where the police sought to extend their custody for further interrogation.
The violence, which erupted on Monday, involved large-scale stone-pelting and arson across several parts of Nagpur. The unrest was reportedly triggered by rumors about a ‘chadar’ with holy inscriptions being desecrated during a protest led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which called for the removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
During the court proceedings, Assistant Public Prosecutor Megha Burange argued that the custodial interrogation of the accused was essential to identify the orchestrators and primary perpetrators of the violence. She highlighted that the accused had not only created terror among citizens but had also assaulted several police officers.
The court, acknowledging the severity of the offenses, noted that the involvement of a mob in the violence complicates the determination of individual roles at this early stage of investigation. Consequently, it deemed custodial interrogation necessary.
However, defense lawyers for the accused contested the police’s claims, arguing that their clients were randomly arrested without concrete evidence and that no specific roles or charges of criminal conspiracy had been directly attributed to them.
The incident left thirty-three police personnel injured, including three Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) rank officers. Following the violence, police arrested Fahim Khan, alleged to be a key instigator, and five others, charging them with sedition and spreading misinformation on social media.
