UP Police’s SIT Filed Chargesheet in the Sambhal Violence Case

The UP police’s SIT on Friday filed a 4000-page charge sheet in six of the 12 FIRs registered after violence broke out in the Sambhal district last year in November. The violence took place in the wage of a court-ordered survey of the 16th century Shahi Jama Masjid and took the lives of four people and injured at least 30 others, including several police personnel.

All the FIRs named a total of 159 people out of which 8 have been arrested. In the same matter, the UP police’s special investigation team has finally filed the chargesheet submitted in the court of judicial magistrate Archana Singh.

The Chargesheet

Sambhal SP Krishna Kumar said that Shariq Satha, a Dubai-based fugitive from the district who runs a gang of auto lifters, was the mastermind behind the violence.

“Two of his arrested gang members, Ghulam and Afroz admitted to having received WhatsApp messages from him (to insight into the violence). We have some details regarding him from the concerned agency abroad. Once we have details, another chargesheet will be filed. Action will be taken against Satha under BNS section 48,” said Kumar.

The chargesheet states that the weapons and cartridges recovered from the site of violence and at other places were manufactured in Pakistan, United Kingdom, US and Germany. However, there was no mention of the Samajwadi Party MP Ziaur Rahman Barq and party MLA Iqbal Mehmood’s son Sohail Iqbal, against whom the cases were filed too. The MP was booked for allegedly delivering provocative speeches before the violence while the MLA’s son was allegedly part of a mob that attacked police and torched their vehicle.