New Delhi: Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj arrested five persons on Sunday, July 10, in connection with hoardings put up by them to highlight rising prices of essential commodities, farmers’ protests and unemployment in the country under the Narendra Modi government.
The accused have been booked under Sections 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code at Colonelganj Police Station. Police say the hoardings put up at two prominent junctions in the city were intended to “defame” Prime Minister Modi.
In UP’s Prayagraj, five arrested for allegedly putting up poster critical to the government. FIR registered u/s 153B, 505(2) in the case at Colonelganj PS in the city. Role of a Telangana-based man is also under scanner. pic.twitter.com/diNJSYj2i9
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) July 12, 2022
According to the police, the hoardings were put up at the behest of one Sai from Telangana, who is associated with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Lately, the TRS has emerged as a trenchant critic of the Modi government, with party chief and Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao attacking the policies of the Union government.
The hoardings carry a picture of Modi, presented in a cartoon form, holding a cooking gas cylinder in his hands while the price of a cylinder (Rs 1,105) is splashed below. It also says: “You have taken away many lives during farm laws protest” and “Dreams of youth have been killed by contract jobs”. Juxtaposed with these is another line that says “Modi sir graph is growing day-to-day”. The main message of the hoarding is conveyed as “#ByeByeModi”.
The arrested have been identified as Aniket Kesarwani, Abhay Kumar Singh, Rajesh Kesarwani, Shiv and Dharmendra Kumar alias Nanka. Among the arrested is the director of the event management company which put up the hoardings and a person associated with the printers which made the hoardings.
According to the local SP, Dinesh Kumar Singh the police had made arrests made based on the footage gathered from nearby CCTV cameras, and the said hoardings came up in two prominent locations in the city. He said the hoardings were put with the intention of “defaming” Prime Minister Modi.
They were put up in the run-up to an event planned by the TRS in the city.
Aniket Kesarwani, the director of the event management company, who was arrested by the police, said that Sai of Telangana had given him a contract to put up hoardings online for Rs 10,000.