Uttar Pradesh government forms SIT to probe purported video of IAS officer

Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 28 : Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate videos purportedly showing Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official Mohammad Iftikharuddin carrying out propaganda against Hinduism when he was commissioner in Kanpur.
In a statement, UP Home Department on said that the SIT will be headed by Director General CBCID GL Meena and additional director general of police (Kanpur Zone) Bhanu Bhaskar will be its member.
The SIT to submit its report within 7 days, the Home Department said.
On Monday, the National Vice President of Math Mandir Coordination Committee Bhupesh Awasthi, released videos of religious programmes in which he alleged that Iftikharuddin, who is presently serving as the Chairman of Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation is telling people the benefits of adopting Islam as a religion.
The purported videos also feature a religious leader sitting beside the IAS officer.
In another video, IAS Iftikharuddin is seen sitting on the ground when a Muslim speaker is purportedly giving radical lessons at his official residence.
After the video surfaced, Kanpur Police Commissioner Aseem Arun gave the responsibility of investigating the entire matter to Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Somendra Meena.
"The investigation of the viral video of IAS officer Mohd Iftikharuddin taken at Kanpur Commissioner's residence has been entrusted to ADCP East, Police Commissionerate Kanpur Nagar. It is being investigated whether the video is authentic and if there is any crime in it," tweeted Police Commissionerate Kanpur Nagar.