By Amit Sharma
The district police in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal plan to approach the local court soon to initiate the process of attaching the properties of more than 70 accused in cases related to the Sambhal mosque violence. The police have been unable to locate them despite issuing non-bailable warrants in connection with the violence that occurred during a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal town on November 24.
The police have put up posters of 74 accused at various locations throughout the town, including on the wall of the controversial mosque. However, no one shown in the posters has been traced. The police obtained photographs of the accused from CCTV footage, videos from mobile phones and other means.
The primary challenge the police face in apprehending the accused is that many have fled the town, leaving their homes locked after the police raids began following the violence. Four people died, and many others, including police officers, were injured in the violence that erupted on the streets of Sambhal in November.
“Most of the accused we are trying to trace have settled in nearby districts with their families after locking their houses since last November. We will soon approach the local court to initiate the legal process of attachment of their properties with the hope that they will be forced to surrender so that our investigation can be completed,” said Kuldeep Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (crime).
The attachment process will begin for those named in the First Information Reports (FIRs) filed at the Nakhasa police station. Non-bailable warrants have been issued against 24 named accused. However, only nine have been arrested so far. Further legal action will be taken against 15 others who have disappeared, said the police.
The Sambhal police submitted a chargesheet to the local court on February 21 for six out of the 12 FIRs registered regarding the violence. The cases included in the chargesheet did not name local Samajwadi Party MP Zia ur Rehman Barq or Sohail Iqbal, the son of local SP MLA Iqbal Mehmood.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.