Bhojpuri folk singer claims she was stopped from singing ‘Raghupati Raghav’ at a BJP event
Bhojpuri singer Devi faced backlash and threats after objections to her bhajan at a Bihar event honoring Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birth centenary.
One more BJP activist has been arrested by the Kolkata Police today in connection with the ‘goli maaro’ slogan on Sunday during Union home minister Amit Shah’s rally, taking the total number of arrests to five. After the fourth arrest made on Monday night, city police today arrested another person, identified as Sandeep Sonkar, a resident of Chetla.
On Monday night Sujit Barua ( 51) was picked up from his residence at Ghola in Sodepur, North 24 Parganas. Three BJP supporters were arrested on Sunday night. Sonkar was arrested by the New Market police where an FIR was lodged. Police sources said that Barua was arrested after being identified from video footage uploaded on a social media platform.
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A senior police officer at Lalbazar had said on Monday that they had identified more than 20 to 25 persons who were involved in shouting Goli Maro slogan from the CCTV footage. Controversy erupted after a group of BJP supporters raised the inflammatory ‘desh ke gaddaro ko goli maro saalon ko’ (shoot all those who betray the country) slogan near Esplanade while on their way to attend the pro-CAA rally at Shahid Minar ground.
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Later a person lodged a complaint at New Market police station following which three BJP supporters – Pankaj Prasad, Surendra Kumar Tewari and Dhruba Basu – were arrested. While two of them have been remanded to police custody till 4 March, one has been granted bail on the ground of his old age and ill-health.
Like three others, Barua has been booked for promoting enmity between different groups and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, criminal intimidation, committing public mischief and common intention. Police commissioner Anuj Sharma had said that the rest of the accused would be nabbed and instructed all the police stations to take stern action against anyone who tries to provoke violence.
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