The Special Investigation Team (SIT), on Wednesday, arrested five people from Kanpur accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots for setting a building on fire, in which three people were burnt to death.
With the fresh arrests from Nirala Nagar in Kidwai Nagar, the SIT that is headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Balendu Bhushan Singh has in all arrested 27 people in connection with the violence that broke out following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in Delhi.
Notably, the SIT was constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government on the orders of the Supreme Court on May 27, 2019, to probe the anti-Sikh riots.
The SIT has gathered information about 96 suspects, of whom 23 have died and the action against the rest is ongoing, which helped the police to nab 27 people, Singh said.
The five arrested men are identified as Anil Kumar Pandey (61), Sriram aka Baggad (65), Mustaqeem (70), Abdul Waheed (61), and Irshad Khan (60), all residents of Kidwai Nagar. The DIG announced a cash reward for the 10-member police team of the SIT who had nabbed the prime accused.
1984 anti-Sikh violence
On July 14, the SIT arrested three more people in the case, who were allegedly set houses ablaze. They were arrested in connection with FIRs lodged in Naubasta police and the other with Govind Nagar police.
The crackdown began on June 15 after the SIT held four prime accused from Ghatampur that was followed by two more arrests on June 21.
