WhatsApp group under police scanner for Biharsharif clashes

Nalanda Police had on Sunday arrested five persons aged between 20 and 30 under several IPC sections. Police identified the accused as Manish Kumar, Tushar Kumar Tanti, Jitendra Kumar Tanti, Dharmendra Mehta, Bhupendra Singh Rana aka Chandan Singh and Niranjan Pandey, and said they had seized five mobile phones allegedly used to upload provocative and inflammatory videos. Police said the accused are students or local shopkeepers.

Bihar Additional DGP (Headquarters) Jitendra Singh Gangwar told The Indian Express: “All the accused, identified by the cyber cell that falls under the Economic Offences Unit, are young, without any criminal antecedents. They are all from Nalanda. They had formed a WhatsApp group a few days before the procession. Our team tracked the social media activities of all 456 members of the group.”

The ADGP said several members either exited the group or were removed for “being inactive”. “We zeroed in on 15 persons who had been very active in the groups with frequent posts – both text and videos. All such posts had the potential to create communal disharmony.” “Examination of calls and posts by the five seized mobile phones will reveal more about the conspiracy. As of now, it looks clear that some vested interest groups were behind the incident,” said the ADGP.