Ballia firing: Karni Sena members ‘backing’ accused stopped in Azamgarh

According to the police, the group, led by Karni Sena’s state unit president Sandeep Singh, had planned to gather outside the Ballia District Magistrate's (DM) office in support of Dhirendra Pratap and also local BJP MLA Surendra Singh.

MORE THAN 30 members of the Karni Sena were stopped and taken into custody by the police in Azamgarh while on their way to Ballia to participate in a programme organised in support of Dhirendra Pratap Singh, main accused in the Ballia firing case, on Wednesday.

According to the police, the group, led by Karni Sena’s state unit president Sandeep Singh, had planned to gather outside the Ballia District Magistrate’s (DM) office in support of Dhirendra Pratap and also local BJP MLA Surendra Singh, who had backed the main accused, claiming that the latter had “opened fire in self-defence” as it was a “kill or get killed” situation then.

Surendra Singh was earlier summoned by the BJP state leadership that disapproved of his remarks defending the main accused in the case. While the party has sought an explanation from the MLA, sources say BJP national president JP Nadda has also warned the party’s UP chief over the conduct of Surendra Singh. The Karni Sena has now warned that if the BJP takes any action against MLA Surendra Singh, they would boycott the BJP.

“The step was taken with the law and order situation in mind and preventive arrests were made. They had come from different districts. We arrested 33 persons under Section 151 of CrPC. They were later released by a magistrate after filing a bond,” said Azamgarh SP (Rural) Siddhartha.

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