Muzaffarnagar riots: BJP MP Sanjeev Balyan promises to release accused

Muzaffarnagar: BJP MP Sanjeev Balyan met the Muzaffarnagar riots accused in the district jail in Muzaffarnagar and assured them of a fair trial, police said on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_2060997” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of the Muzaffarnagar clashes. AP[/caption] Balyan along with other local leaders including former Block Pradhan Virender Singh, BJP activist Umesh Malik and Kapil Deo (former municipal chairman) met the riots accused in the district jail on Thursday, they said. Union Minister Balyan assured the accused that a legal battle will be fought. He told them that he will plead on their behalf in the court to release them, police said. The minister, also an accused in the riots was jailed for about one month during the pre-emptive action taken before the Muzaffarnagar riots broke out in 2013. According to the police, Balyan met the accused in Kutba killing, where 8 people including a woman were killed, 20 injured and several houses burnt during the riots at Kutba village in the district. Virender Singh who accompanied Balyan is another accused in the riots who is facing serious charges and is presently out on bail, they said. Police had registered a case against 110 people. As per the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was set up to probe the riots, more than 50 people were allegedly involved in Kutba killings, out of which around 40 have been arrested. The communal clashes that broke out in the district in September 2013 had claimed more than 60 lives and rendered thousands of people homeless. PTI