By Scroll Staff
Eight members of Hindutva groups Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal surrendered to the police on Wednesday in connection with the violence that broke out in Maharashtra’s Nagpur city two days earlier, The Indian Express reported.
The members surrendered to the Kotwali Police and were granted bail after being presented before a court. The police booked them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, according to The Indian Express.
The clashes in Nagpur broke out on Monday night hours after Hindutva groups held a protest in the city demanding that Aurangzeb’s tomb located in Khuldabad near Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar be removed.
Earlier on Wednesday, the police also arrested Fahim Shamim Khan, a Minorities Democratic Party leader, for his alleged role in the violence, The Times of India reported. The police suspect him to be among the key persons involved in the clashes.
Khan was arrested for allegedly leading a protest outside the Ganeshpeth police station on Monday to demand the filing of a complaint against the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal for triggering the clashes.
His name has been listed along with that of over 50 other suspects in one of the six FIRs registered so far in connection with the clashes, The Times of India reported.
The violence erupted on Monday in central Nagpur’s Chitnis Park at 7.30 pm. Stones were thrown at the police amid rumours that a cloth with the Islamic declaration of faith, known as the Kalma, had been burnt during an agitation by a Hindutva group in the late afternoon.
Unidentified office-bearers of the Bajrang Dal were quoted as saying by The Indian Express that its members had only burnt an effigy of Aurangzeb during the protest.
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