Cops probe lawyers’ criminal cases in Holi clash case

Lucknow: The police are investigating the criminal background of lawyers involved in the clash with police at the Vibhuti Khand police station on Holi. Sources said the details will be submitted to the court and state authorities.A video of the confrontation between lawyers and police on Mar 14 went viral on social media, triggering widespread protests by lawyers, who blocked roads from the police station to the IGP chauraha.Advocate Saurabh Verma lodged an FIR against additional inspector Pankaj Kumar Singh, sub-inspectors Jaidi, Irfan, Yogendra Singh Sengar, Shubham Tyagi, Anuj Kumar, Suhail Khan and constables Sandeep Kumar Maurya and Amit Yadav and others.In response, the police registered two FIRs, naming several lawyers including Shivam Pal, Shivpujan Yadav, Sulkhan Yadav, Shubham Yadav, Abhishek Singh, Rahul Pandey, Saurabh Kumar Verma, Ankit Dwivedi, Arvind Yadav, Akash and Diwakar Tiwari. Additionally, 450 unidentified lawyers have also been named in the case, with police actively working to identify them.The investigation so far revealed that six named lawyers have prior criminal records. According to police, Abhishek Singh faces four cases, Najar Hussain and Rahul Pandey have one case each, while Saurabh Verma, Shubham Yadav and Shivam Pal are also implicated in separate cases.