Agra conversion: Valmiki community threatens to shut down municipal cleaning

The Agra conversion story has developed a new angle now, with the Hindu organizations claiming that the police was deliberately siding with the 'other community' and persecuting the Valmiki community for the alleged crime of one member of the community. The Valmiki community has now threatened to shut down the municipal services of Uttar Pradesh, if Nand Kishore is harmed in any way.

On Tuesday, the Agra police claimed that it had arrested Nand Kishore Valmiki, the prime accused of Agra conversion incident who carries a reward of Rs. 12000 on his head. However soon afterwards, the holes in the police story began to appear and another story was revealed.

When the Agra police presented Nand Kishore before the media on Tuesday afternoon, the media had specific instructions not to engage him in any kind of conversation. Only photographers were allowed to take pictures of the so-called mastermind of the conversions and as soon as the photographs were taken, Nand Kishore was escorted out of the office of Agra senior superintendent of police Shalabh Mathur. The SSP then announced a prize of Rs. 12000 to be given to the police team that arrested Valmiki. A list of criminal charges against Valmiki was also revealed, all of which were dated a decade back and apparently, Valmiki had been living a 'reformed' life since then.

Perplexed, some media-persons probed deeper into the mysterious behavior of the police, talking to some BJP leaders who then revealed the story behind the 'good-work' by the police. Apparently, Valmiki had not been arrested by the police, but in fact, he had surrendered before the police following mediation by a local public representative. These leaders claimed that it had become imperative that Nand Kishore surrendered, because the police was torturing the entire Valmiki community for his mistake. He said that the police had guaranteed that Nand Kishore would not be harmed if he surrendered and now they were claiming that he has been arrested by a police team led by Agra City Superintendent Sameer Saurabh.

However, the Valmiki community Chowdhary Karunesh Valmiki claimed that all the criminal cases registered against Nand Kishore are more than a decade old and he had not been involved in any criminal activities. He was being targeted, while the real culprits Ajju Chauhan and others were roaming free. He threatened that the Valmiki community will shut down all cleaning services in Agra and the rest of the state if the real culprits are not arrested.