Violence over Kanpur arrests

After local BSP leader Nirmal Tiwari filed a complaint on Thursday morning against unidentified miscreants for desecrating the Ambedkar statue, the Kakadev police picked up eight persons from Ambedkar Nagar locality past midnight. Later, they declared that one of them, Balmiki, had confessed to the crime and even named two others.

Dalit leaders too joined and demanded immediate release of those arrested. Heavy police and PAC force were deployed to prevent any untoward incident. The police said all eight people have been released 8212; 8220;seven of them were released in the morning, while Arun was let off around noon8221;.

Sources, however, said third degree was used on Arun due to which he confessed to the crime. Talking to the media after returning home around 7.30 pm, Arun corroborated the charge. While Kakadev Station Officer Deepa Singh said earlier that she did not know where did Arun go after being released, Arun told the media that he was never taken to the police station in the first place. Instead, he was taken to a hotel, where he was forced to confess to the crime, he alleged.