Agnipath scheme row: 9 arrested, 8 detained in 3 districts of Uttar Pradesh

The police arrested nine people and detained many in Saharanpur, Bhadohi and Deoria districts for their alleged involvement in violent agitations and for instigating the youth to protests against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, officials said on Sunday.

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Four people were arrested in Bhadohi and at least eight were detained in Deoria. Those arrested in Saharanpur are said to be members of different political parties, they said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Saharanpur Akash Tomar said, "We have arrested five people in connection with the Agnipath protest. All are above 25 years of age and are connected to different political parties. Posing as Army aspirants they were involved in instigating youth to protest against the scheme."

Those arrested have been identified as Parag Pawar (26), Sandeep (34), Saurabh Kumar (28), Mohit Chaudhary (26) and Uday (26).

While Parag is a member of the National Student's Union of India, the student wing of Congress, Sandeep is linked with the Samajwadi Party, the SSP said.

All the accused are residents of villages under the Rampur Maniharan police station limits.

In Bhadohi, police resorted to lathicharge to disperse protestors and arrested four youths.

"On Sunday, 30 to 40 youths gathered for a protest on the Gyanpur-Gopiganj road with national flags. Before they could start their demonstration, police dispersed them," SHO of Gopiganj, Brijesh Kumar Singh said adding that four people were arrested.

In Deoria, a large number of youths protested against the Agnipath scheme in the Barhaj area. They also resorted to the pelting of stones and vandalized a gas filling station on the Paina road.

Police have initiated a probe and have detained eight to 10 youths in the matter.

The filling station salesman also accused the protestors of looting cash. Shopkeepers at Chowk and Paina Road closed their shops out of fear and people who came to the market returned home.

"Police have initiated a probe and so far eight to 10 agitators were detained. The police are interrogating them but no written complaint from the filling station has been received so far," SHO of Barhaj Police Station Jai Shankar Mishra said.