On June 18, Saharanpur Police in Uttar Pradesh arrested five fake army aspirants for allegedly conspiring to provoke Army aspirants to create a law and order issue in the state against the newly launched Agnipath Scheme for recruitment in the Armed Forces. One of the arrested conspirators is 26-years-old Parag Panwar, district president of Congress’ student wing, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI). Apart from Panwar, 34-years-old Sandeep is associated with Samajwadi Party. He was a member of Zila Panchayat.
Three others, 26-years-old Mohit Chaudhary, 28-years-old Saurabh Kumar and 26-years old Uday have also been arrested by the Police who have political links. The Police said in a statement that these aspirants were above the prescribed age limit for Army recruitments. No one of them was preparing for the recruitment into the armed forces, and all of them had an affiliation to different political parties.
Akash Tomar, Senior Superintendent of Police, Saharanpur, said, “Rampur Maniharan police has arrested five fake army candidates. Two of them are office bearers of different political outfits, and the remaining three are members of political parties. These five were provoking the armed forces aspirants to agitate and protest. One of the accused, Parag Panwar, is the district president of a political party. Sandeep Chaudhary was a member of Zila Panchayat.”
All five were sent to jail by the Police, and further investigation into the matter is underway.
Agnipath Scheme protests turned violent
On Tuesday (June 14), the Indian government, along with the chiefs of the three armed forces, launched the Agnipath scheme for the recruitment of youth in the armed forces. The new recruits under the scheme will henceforth be known as ‘Agniveer’.
Soon after, a lot of misinformation and apprehension were being spread against the scheme and its utility, resulting in protests across the country. Alleged army aspirants took to the streets and destroyed public property under the pretext of peaceful protests and demonstrations. While demanding a rollback of the government scheme, they vandalized public property, burnt trains, and brought life to a standstill across the various Indian States.