Yeti Narasimhanand (second from right), made fun of a policeman last month. (file)
Lucknow:
Yeti Narasimhanand – one of the religious leaders who organized an event in Haridwar last month that called for genocide of Muslims – was arrested on Saturday, becoming the second person to be taken into custody following the intervention of the Supreme Court .
Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi, who was Wasim Rizvi before his conversion, was the first accused to be arrested in a hate speech case involving Haridwar “Dharma Sansad” or religious gathering.
On Thursday after the first arrest, he said, in the past two weeks, saffron-clad Narasimhananda has gone on a whim with the police to talk about how a police officer “will be on our side” to curse him – “You will all die.”
Narasimhananda is among more than 10 people named in the FIR registered over speeches that called for genocide and the use of weapons against Muslims. Apart from him and Tyagi, the police have also taken interest in another religious leader Sadhvi Annapurna under heavy pressure.
The first arrest in the case came almost a month after the incident, when the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Uttarakhand government to submit an affidavit within 10 days on the action taken in the case.
Clips of the Haridwar event, held from December 17 to 20, were circulated on social media and drew sharp criticism from former military chiefs, retired judges, activists and even international tennis legend Martina Navratilova.
Those who organized this event and gave abusive language say that they have not done anything wrong.
Prabodhanand Giri, who is frequently photographed with BJP leaders including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Uttarakhand counterpart Pushkar Dhami, said, “I am not ashamed of what I have said. I am not afraid of the police. I stand by my statement. Am.” NDTV 23 Dec.
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