Kanpur: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has swung into action to dig out foreign funding of the main accused in the Kanpur violence, Hayat Zafar Hashmi, the police said on Thursday. The team is sifting through Hashmi’s bank accounts. Sources said that a sum of Rs 3.54 crore had been transferred to one of his bank accounts in Babupurwa area of Kanpur on July 30, 2019. An official of the team said that Hashmi had withdrawn Rs 98 lakh from the account in September last year. Hashmi who has a fair price shop has three more bank accounts from which transactions have been made. “Till now, transactions worth Rs 47.6 crore have been made from the three other accounts in the last three years. Now, the accounts show a balance of just Rs 11 lakh. The ED teams may also interrogate him and his associates regarding the foreign funding if any,” the SIT official said. These accounts were opened in 2019.
Also Read – UP is lively example of unity in diversity, says Kovind
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has asked the police to see if minors were used as shields during the clashes on June 3. On behalf of the Commission, a letter has been sent to the state police headquarters and the Police Commissioner of Kanpur directing him to take action against such people under the Child Protection Act. After the police had made a few posters of rioters viral on Monday, a teenager surrendered at the Colonelganj police station on Tuesday. When the minor boy’s family saw his picture on the poster, they took him to the Colonelganj police station.
Also Read : Gyanvapi Masjid case: Next hearing on July 4, Now Hindu side will present its point
The Commission has requested that the matter must be investigated by registering a case under the Juvenile Justice Act and the IPC. The Commission has also requested the police to produce the juvenile before the Child Welfare Committee. Violence erupted in Beconganj and its adjoining areas of Kanpur city on June 3 when a group of people asked some businessmen to close their shops to protest against BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s remark against the Prophet. At least a dozen people were injured in the stone pelting.
