To build its case against the alleged perpetrators of the Kanpur violence in June, the Uttar Pradesh police invoked a conspiracy theory: that the local Muslims were trying to “take over” Hindu land “under the guise of riots”.
In a 1,500-page “proposal” to the Kanpur district magistrate outlining why the alleged “mastermind” behind the violence, Hayat Zafar Hashmi, must be booked under the National Security Act, a Special Investigation Team of the police weaved its case around half a dozen nearly identical statements from Hindu complainants.
