Mumbai: The police have formed 18 Special Investigation Teams (SITs) to fast-track the identification and arrest of those involved in the recent violence in Nagpur city. So far, approximately 200 persons have been identified through CCTV footage, with efforts ongoing to track down nearly 1,000 more suspects. As of now, 90 individuals have been arrested in connection with the violence.
In the latest development, the city’s Cyber Cell has booked 38-year-old Fahim Shamim Khan (inset), a leader of the Minorities Democratic Party (MDP), along with five others, on charges of sedition and spreading misinformation on social media during Monday’s violence.
Officials stated that Khan is one of the alleged masterminds behind the well-planned unrest. Preliminary investigations suggest that Khan allegedly delivered an inflammatory speech shortly before the clashes erupted. DCP Matani revealed that Khan edited and circulated videos combining past protests against Aurangzeb’s tomb and other riot footage to manipulate the narrative, portraying Muslims as oppressed and calling for retaliation.
According to the senior police official, Khan’s doctored videos, broadcast widely across social media, WhatsApp groups and other platforms, were reportedly deleted after circulation to erase evidence. Officials added that Khan and his associates also created fresh content glorifying the violence, including videos showing attacks on police personnel and stone-pelting incidents similar to conflictaffected regions such as Kashmir further fanning communal tensions.
Khan was arrested for allegedly leading a protest outside a Nagpur police station on Monday. He and six others are among the 50 accused named in four separate FIRs registered by the Cyber Cell in connection with the violence. Intel Agencies indicated that several banned organisations may have played a significant role in amplifying this propaganda online, exacerbating the situation.
Sources confirmed that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has launched a parallel probe to investigate possible links between the riots and anti-national or banned organizations. The agency is also examining whether any foreign entities played a role in orchestrating the violence. As part of its investigation, the NIA is probing the funding trail and looking into the possibility of a ‘toolkit’ pattern being used to coordinate the unrest.
To understand what was written on the green cloth placed on Aurangzeb’s effigy, help was taken from Maulanas and experts. Similar matching cloth and content was shown to experts and religious leaders. Addressing the legislative assembly, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis clarified misinformation regarding the burning of Aurangzeb’s effigy. He stressed that while burning the Quran is condemnable, claims suggesting that Quranic verses were deliberately burned during protests were entirely false. He emphasised that no guilty party will be spared.
