Braving the bone-chilling cold, Samajwadi Party MLAs led by Amitabh Bajpai have been on a "satyagraha" at the Gandhi statue in Phool Bagh, Kanpur, which will continue till Sunday afternoon.
Bajpai has accused the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh of registering fake cases against the opposition.
The SP lawmakers are protesting the registering of alleged false cases on Samajwadi Party MLA Irfan Solanki and some other MLAs by the Yogi Adityanath government.
The protest was launched on Saturday against a December 3 action by the Uttar Pradesh Police, when they arrested Solanki and his brother Rizwan for allegedly setting a property in a land dispute case ablaze.
This was after the Solanki brothers, absconding after a November complaint, reached the camp office of the Kanpur Police Commissioner and confessed to their crime on December 2.
Solanki and his brother were arrested on the complaint of Baby Naaz. The UP police booked 24 people including the Solankis under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for alleged arson in Naaz's house following a dispute over land in the KDA Defense Colony in Jajmau that reportedly belonged to the complainant's father.
On December 26, Kanpur Police lodged three new cases under Gangster Act against Irfan Solanki in connection with an arson case.
MLA and his brother are facing allegations of encroachment on other's land, eviction from land and wrongful acquisition of properties.
Irfan is currently lodged in Maharajganj Jail. The MLA is already booked in several cases including plot disputes, arson, air travel with a fake Aadhaar card, and providing fake Indian citizenship to Bangladeshi citizens.
Police Commissioner Anand Prakash Tiwari on December 26 said that the case had been registered under crime number 156/22 section 3(1) at Jajmau police station.
"Under Gangsters and Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act 1986, Irfan Solanki has been named as accused. The accused also include his brother Rizwan Solanki, Israel Atte Wala, Mohammad Sharif and Shaukat Ali," Tiwari added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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