The arrest count in the Hubballi violence case has gone up to 134 with the police arresting several more on Thursday including three of the main accused in the case.
One among them is Waseem Pathan, whose video clip of addressing the mob standing atop a police vehicle had gone viral and he had been accused of “instigating” the mob, a charge denied by him.
Hours before the arrest, Mr. Pathan released a video pleading innocence in the case. He said that he had, contrary to claims in a section of the media, had gone to pacify the crowd. As there was no mike, he had to climb the police vehicle. In fact, as the crowd swelled, it was the police who had asked him to pacify the mob. “I never gave any provocative speech,” he said in the video.
Mr. Pathan also took exception to a section of the media projecting him as “mastermind” of the violence and claimed it was a conspiracy against him. “Suddenly lights were switched off and some people with their faces covered started pelting stones,” he said, narrating the sequence of events.
Addressing presspersons on Thursday evening, Police Commissioner Labhu Ram said that Mr. Pathan was arrested in Belagavi and brought to Hubballi. He declined to give any further information on the role of the accused in the violence and said that the investigation was still underway.
Along with Mr. Pathan, the police arrested several more on Thursday taking the tally to 134. The other three main accused in the case Abdul Malik Bepari and Tuffail Mulla have been arrested.
Meanwhile, addressing a press meet in Hubballi, SDPI leaders alleged that there was a conspiracy to defame a community with some miscreants entering a peaceful protest and indulging in violence. They demanded a judicial inquiry into the issue.
