As Uttar Pradesh, India's most populated state, gets set for crucial Assembly election early next year, the stoking of communal fires that threatens to polarise lakhs of citizens across the state has begun.

As a dizzy mix of faith and politics looms over the state, an India Today investigation into the heart of the country's communal rift shows what happens in the name of faith is rarely spontaneous.

WATCH: Sting operation exposes Akhilesh govt's hand in Muzaffarnagar violence

Here are the highlights: The India Today expose shows three leaders from three different organisations willing to orchestrate religious chaos for a price and for personal gain. The India Today reporter posing as a filmmaker approached Noida-based Parminder Arya of the Hindu Swabhiman Sangathan. The plan: Disrupt the screening of a fictitious documentary film that disputes the mythology that Lord Ram was born in India. His religious pride hurt, Arya is ready to participate in a plan to garner publicity for the so-called documentary by staging an attack on its screening in Uttar Pradesh. "Let us know whose clothes are to be torn. We'll do that. Sometimes, boys go berserk. There are chances of people getting seriously injured in such situations," he says. Next on the list: Kapil Dev Agarwal, the BJP MLA from Muzaffarnagar which witnessed widespread communal carnage three years ago killing 62 people. "What's on offer?" he asks when he is offered to disrupt the screening of the same fictitious film on Lord Ram. "But the price has to be right," he adds. The two individuals are hardly alone and only represent but the tip of an enormous industry that operates across communities, charges money for violence and sparks riots. Next leader in the expose is the ruling Samajwadi Party's Hafiz Mohammed Irfan, who is the president of the party's Haridwar unit. "Five lakh rupees" is what he quotes to orchestrate violence to promote a controversial film and declare the film "anti-Muslim".

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