Nagpur police have filed 10 FIRs and arrested 84 people following recent violence and arson. The cyber cell is investigating over 140 social media posts that may have incited unrest.
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00:00In Nagpur violence and arson case, 10 FIRs in total have now been filed, which means
00:05multiple FIRs with different kind of complaints also have come in.
00:1084 people arrested till now in the violence case.
00:13No religious, according to information coming in, remember, even female cops appear to have
00:18filed a complaint that the mob, the one that you see on your screen, molested the female
00:24cops.
00:25Remember, because the cops also were caught off guard.
00:27So there were barely a few who were deployed late into the night, about 7 to 8 p.m.
00:31The cops, female cops have alleged that they were molested, that one of them was attempted
00:37to be stripped as well.
00:39What kind of a mob this really was?
00:41What were they protesting about?
00:43Now, remember that there was a issue that, was there a rumor that was spread that a chadar,
00:50a holy chadar with some specific holy verses was burnt during a VHP protest that led to
00:55the aggression on the ground.
00:56Nagpur police has said no religious text was burnt during that protest on 17th March.
01:03There was just a rumor mongering that was done.
01:06I want to bring in Mustafa Shaikh for the latest on that because Mustafa, remember,
01:11has been on the ground.
01:12He's speaking to eyewitnesses on both sides, trying to ascertain what exactly happened.
01:16Mustafa, 10 FIRs.
01:18How is the Mumbai police, the Nagpur police, I correct myself, is ensuring that peace prevails
01:23but to ensure these rioters are caught?
01:54That was the pretext to, you know, basically influence hate or motivate hate against the
02:01police and this violence and riots after that had taken place.
02:05So, which were the specific accounts, whether they are only Indian accounts or accounts
02:09outside India, which specifically, you know, raise this false narrative based on rumor
02:15after which this thing has happened.
02:18So social media on ground and also you can say that the other factor for Nagpur police
02:23is to see when they are in a position to lift the curfew which has been placed in the jurisdiction
02:28of 10 police stations because there are many shops which are affected, many businesses
02:32which are affected due to this shutdown.
02:35So these are three things which Nagpur police is working on.
02:38Social media has been of big focus and that's why they have said that whatever analysis
02:43they have done, religious leaders they have consulted, there is no specific religious
02:48text was written on that piece of cloth or chadar which was burned during the protests
02:52back to you.
02:53Something should have been done by the police and the administration earlier to take religious
02:57community leaders in confidence.
02:59They did not anticipate the violence that will come out but the fact is the police needs
03:03to set a benchmark, law and order, irrespective of any community, any group.
03:07This mob violence cannot be permitted.
03:09Just imagine the fear by the families who were residing in these residential areas,
03:13women and children huddled in their home when a mob just went on rampage, arson and violence
03:18and now cops, female cops alleging they were molested too.
03:31So where does the investigation now stand by the Nagpur police?
03:34Here's what is happening.
03:35Maharashtra police is looking, why are there cyber cell now?
03:38They are investigating the kind of social media posts, inflammatory content which means
03:44they have identified over 140 posts and videos.
03:48What does that mean?
03:49Maharashtra cyber cell has identified and reported over 140 objectionable content which
03:55could have been provocative in nature including posts and videos across social media platforms
04:00that could have incited communal unrest.
04:02These videos and posts were found uploaded on social media sites, Facebook, Instagram,
04:07YouTube.
04:08The cyber cell is now investigating this, they are looking at what kind of posts and
04:13importantly who was pushing it, what handles were pushing, what kind of content that could
04:19incite violence.
04:20Just think about this.
04:21In the afternoon, some Hindu groups protesting in different parts of Maharashtra against
04:26Aurangzeb burning effigy and more.
04:29By evening it appeared, by 7-8 pm aggression shown by this mob primarily where we can see
04:36some members of the Muslim community have come forth indulging in full on arson and
04:40violence.
04:41Many have been detained as well.
04:43As Mustafa Sheikh, my colleague continues to be with us, Mustafa tell me this that do
04:48you think now cyber cell's role is going to become significant?
04:52There are CCTV, there are other digital evidence, how is the cyber cell coming into this investigation
04:57when we talk about the Nagpur March 17 violence case?
05:28So, a common link or a key person, influential person, who was that person, was there any
05:35funding or any organisation which is involved.
05:39For these things, the police will have to go to the root cause of this entire gathering,
05:44illegal gathering which has taken place and hence, of course, the arrests have been made
05:48but also they are trying to analyse the social media posts from which country of origin those
05:54social media posts were made from, who are the people who have made these social media
05:58posts, whether they have made similar such inflammatory posts before.
06:01So, that is the link which the police is trying to establish through analysing the social
06:05media content.
06:06They have registered 4 FIRs just under the IT Act regarding this entire social media
06:11posts.
06:12They are requesting all the agencies like Facebook and YouTube to remove such content
06:19which is inflammatory.
06:21So, basically to identify who are the main people behind this protest, social media has
06:26become important in the investigation of Nagpur Police back to you.
06:29Mustafa, please keep tracking all the latest on that.
06:31He is on the ground in Nagpur and he is getting us details where a curfew like situation presently
06:36in several jurisdictions.