Mathura violence: Man who ‘collected funds’ for cult held from Badaun

Chandan Bose, stated to be the second in command in the cult, was arrested Wednesday.

The Indian Express/June 18, 2016

By Ishita Mishra

One of the top cult members wanted in the Mathura violence case was arrested on Friday from a village in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh. Rakesh Gupta allegedly collected funds for the cult led by Ram Vriksh Yadav.

This is the second major arrest in the case. Chandan Bose, stated to be the second in command in the cult, was arrested Wednesday.

Gupta, a resident of Badaun, was arrested from a village in Usait police station area following a tip-off. He was reportedly hiding there for the last two days.

According to police sources, Gupta reportedly collected funds for Yadav and also had an important role in supplying arms to the camp at Jawahar Bagh.

The sources added that Gupta’s network of collecting donations for the camp spanned many states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Gupta was the secretary of the government’s cooperative society in his village. He was suspended from the post after the Mathura incident.

DIG, Agra range, Ajay Mohan said Gupta was arrested by a joint team of Mathura and Badaun police. He added that cult leader Ram Vriksh Yadav, Chandan Bose — who has already been arrested — Girish Yadav and Gupta are main culprits in the case.
The officer said that Gupta will be brought to Mathura for further interrogation.

Police is now looking for the son of Ram Vriksh Yadav, Vivek Yadav, who used to run a Facebook account of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi organisation.

A Mathura court has ordered a DNA test to ascertain if Ram Vriksh died during the violence. Vivek’s arrest is important in that context too.

Twenty-nine people, including then SP (City) Mukul Dwivedi and Station House Officer (Farah) Santosh Yadav, were killed in a clash between police and squatters on June 2.