The Shamli district administration said they had the list of names released by Hukum Singh. Shamli SP Vijay Bhushan said that among them, only three murder cases were related to extortion and police had arrested 25 people in those cases. The Shamli district administration said they had the list of names released by Hukum Singh. Shamli SP Vijay Bhushan said that among them, only three murder cases were related to extortion and police had arrested 25 people in those cases.

THE Shamli district administration Sunday formed four separate teams to look into allegations made by BJP MP Hukum Singh that 346 Hindu families had fled their homes in Kairana town over “threat and extortion by criminal elements belonging to a particular community”.

Each team, led by a tehsildar-rank officer and including a revenue officer and constables, will go door-to-door for inspection. The teams visited some houses on Sunday.

BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday expressed “serious concern” over Hindus being “driven out” of Kairana, at the party National Executive meeting in Allahabad.

The Shamli district administration said they had the list of names released by Hukum Singh. Shamli SP Vijay Bhushan said that among them, only three murder cases were related to extortion and police had arrested 25 people in those cases.

Upon learning about the list, Shamli District Magistrate Sujeet Kumar had on Friday told SDM Ram Avtar Gupta and Deputy SP Bhushan Verma to probe into the allegations.

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SP Bhushan said the two officers had found that “four persons named in the list died around 20 years back, 13 people were found staying at home, and 68 had left Kairana several years ago for better life. The process of verifying other names is still on.”

DM Kumar said that Shamli’s local intelligence unit had not submitted any report of people leaving Kairana over law and order so far.

On the teams formed on Sunday, SDM Gupta said, “They will visit each house of those mentioned in the BJP MP’s list. They will collect complete details on them, including where they are staying at present. If families are not found at their address, the teams will find out where and when they have gone. They will also record the statements of locals to know the reason behind them leaving their home.”

The BJP MP from Kairana, Hukum Singh had put out a list of 346 Hindu families who he said had left their homes following threat and extortion by people belonging to a particular community.

The list carries names of the head of each family, their addresses and also what they were doing before leaving Kairana.

He had alleged that the situation had started developing soon after the Samajwadi Party came to power and intensified after the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, and claimed that it had become modus operandi in Kairana to harass Hindu families, forcing them to sell their shops and houses on meagre rates. He also claimed that locals, particularly women, were feeling unsafe.

The MP had also released a list of 10 people who were murdered for allegedly not paying extortion.

The NHRC has also taken up the matter, sending a notice to the Akhilesh Yadav government.

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