LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has increased the security category of 59 persons, including several Bharatiya Janata Part (BJP) leaders and Ministers.
According to Home Department sources, Uttar Pradesh Minister Suresh Rana has been given 'Z' Plus security while the security of BJP MLA Sangeet Som has also been upgraded to 'Z' category. Minister Nand Gopal Nandi will also get 'Z' category security.
Suresh Rana and Sangeet Som were accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, while Nand Gopal Nandi faced a bomb attack in 2012 in which a journalist was killed.
Zufar Faruqi, chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board has been put in the 'Y' category security list. Faruqi was among the first Muslim leaders to announce that he would not file a review petition on the Supreme Court verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case.
Waseem Rizvi, chairman of the Shia Central Waqf Board, has also been given the 'Y' category security. Rizvi has been repeatedly getting death threats from unidentified persons.
BJP leader Naresh Agarwal's security has been upgraded to 'Y' plus category.
The state government has not downgraded the security of Babri plaintiff Iqbal Ansari and Hindu leader Ram Vilas Vedanti.
The Yogi government, in a significant move, has withdrawn the security of the three members of the mediation committee, which was earlier set up by the Supreme Court on the Ayodhya issue. The three included Justice F.M. Khalifullah, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and advocate Sriram Panchu.
Sources said that the security of 10 persons had been upgraded on the directives of the court and former Bahujan Samaj Party minister Ramvir Upadhyaya is one of them.
Over 150 people in different districts have also been provided security after the Kamlesh Tiwari murder. Tiwari was killed in Lucknow on October 18 and the motive behind the crime was a statement he had made in 2015 against a particular religion.