Nine persons have been arrested from Srinagar and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir for allegedly indulging in violence, threatening and intimidating businessmen and forcing them to close their establishments to protest the abrogation of Article 370, police said.
“Police Station Baramulla received information that some miscreants have set ablaze shops in Baramulla Market at three different locations due to which several shops including a shopping complex got damaged. A case was registered and investigations started,” a police spokesman said.
During the course of investigation, officers with the help of scientific and technological aids were able to identify the miscreants involved in the crime and subsequently arrested four of the accused, the spokesman said.
He said the arrested persons have been identified as Mohd Maroof Saliah alias Adil, Bilal Mehraj Bhat, Sameer Ahmad Shakroo and Aadil Gaffar Sofi.
Five other miscreants, who were involved in sprinkling petrol at some business establishments in the city and intimidating shopkeepers into downing their shutters, were arrested from various parts of the city, a police official said.
“The arrested miscreants were involved in hurling petrol bombs (Molotov cocktails) and threatening shopkeepers and locals in the interiors of Srinagar city,” the official said.
The official said that as per the police records, this group was involved in hurling petrol bombs on vehicles of police and security forces in the areas of Sarafkadal, Bohrikadal, Rajouri kadal, Khanyar and Nowhatta.