Over 1k held for clashes during Agnipath protests across states

As the wave of violent protests against the new Agnipath military recruitment scheme receded, state police across the country began to take action over the violence in earnest and arrested over a thousand people, mostly in Bihar.

In Bihar, which has reported the worst of the violence, including trains being set on fire across districts and public property damaged, police have lodged 148 first information reports (FIRs) and arrested 805 people.

Those indulging in creating a public nuisance in the name of agitation and targeting public properties would not be spared, the state’s additional chief home secretary Chaitanya Prasad said. “District police have been directed to pick up the trouble mongers,” he said.

Police complaints have been lodged against four coaching institutes in Masaurhi for their suspected role in stone pelting at the Taregana station on Saturday. “As many as 191 persons have been arrested in the district on the charges of holding the city to ransom,” district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh said.