Supreme Court lawyer and former Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashwani Upadhyay and four others will probably be questioned by Delhi police today over raising anti-Muslim slogans during a protest Upadhyay had allegedly organised on Monday at Delhi's Jantar Mantar. Presently, all accused are in police custody.
Ashwani Upadhyay has been identified as one of the suspects in the case and has been summoned by the Delhi police. The other five suspects have been identified as Vinod Sharma, Deepak Singh, Vinit Kranti, Preet Singh and Deepak.
Mr Upadhyay was in Ghaziabad and was summoned to appear before the police at the Connaught Place station on Monday night. Search is currently going on to spot the other suspects.
In a video, a group was seen sloganeering violently against the Muslim community at Jantar Mantar which is a protest spot in the city that has been surfacing since Monday.
Despite the video going viral on social media, police had made no arrests till late Monday evening.
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Chants of "Ram, Ram", along with slogans threatening Muslims could be heard. "Hindustan mein rehna hoga jai shri ram kehna hoga (if you want to stay in India, you must say Jai Shri Ram)," people shouted at the rally.
No police officer could be spotted at the site of the protest, however, they claim that permission for the rally was not given due to Covid, yet a crowd appeared.
In the presence of Narsinghanand Saraswati, a priest who is defamed for communal hate speeches, TV actor and BJP leader Gajendra Chauhan anti slogans against one community were shouted.
Mr Upadhyay who is alleged to have organised the illegal rally said he's unaware of these people who were shouting slogans at the protest and is willing to appear before the police any time on Tuesday.
In a statement, the BJP leader stated the Save India Foundation had organised the program.
"I don't have any relation with Save India Foundation Trust. I was a guest of Mr RVS Mani, Mr Firoz Bakht Ahmed, Mr Gajendra Chauhan. We reached at around 11:00 and left at noon. I never met these miscreants. I wish to meet you tomorrow morning to give my written statement," read his statement. He had also said that he had no idea about the rally videos.
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He further stated that he was not present there when the slogans were raised, nor did he invite those people. This would have happened after he left the site, he added. "Strict action must be taken against those we can see in the videos," he told media reporters.
He said only five to six people were shouting the slogans when the crowd was dispersing, adding that such anti-social slogans should not have been raised.