Chandrashekar Azad challenges CM Yogi to prove '100 crore funds claims' as ED refutes it

Challenging Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad, on Friday said he would leave politics if even 'Rs 1 lakh is found by any agency in his bank account'. Affirming that his expenses are borne by his society, he said that if Adityanath was unable to prove allegations against him, he must resign. Azad has been vocally demanding Adityanath's resignation over the reports of a 19-year-old Dalit woman being allegedly gang-raped and murdered by four upper-caste men in Hathras.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's tally crosses 69 lakhs; active cases fall below 9 lakhs

 Azad: "I will leave politics if..."

Hathras case: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad meets victim's kin, demands Y+ security

ED denies links between Bhim Army & PFI

Earlier in the day, reports stated that Enforcement Directorate (ED) found no links between Azad's Bhim Army and Popular Front of India - which has been under probe for 'inciting riots' during the anti-CAA clashes across Uttar Pradesh. Refuting former UP DGP Brij Lal's claims alleging that  PFI and its affiliate Campus Front of India had 'pumped in  Rs 100 crore for instigating riots over Hathras case', ED clarified that no such amounts were recovered. Lal has also alleged that Bhim Army is allegedly misleading the Hathras case victim's family.

Hathras horror: 3-member SIT widens probe; 40 more people called for questioning

What is the Hathras gangrape case? 

A 19-year-old woman in a village in UP's Hathras district was reported to have been brutally gangraped by 4 men when she was collecting fodder for her cattle on September 14 - all four accused have been arrested. The victim succumbed to her injuries and her autopsy report read spinal cord injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue with no mention of rape. Citing it, the police has claimed that the victim was 'not raped' highlighting that 'neck injury and trauma' were mentioned as the cause of death and that no traces of sperm were found in her private parts. The case took an ugly turn when UP police cremated the victim's body at 2:30 AM on September 30, allegedly without the family's consent, which has been refuted by the police. 

Hathras case: Accused plead 'innocence', claim victim's kin 'beat her' in a letter to SP

Police filed two FIRs against Congress leader Shyoraj Jivan for his plot to trigger caste riots in the wake of the Hathras case. Apart from this case, police have filed 14 FIRs and 6 cases across UP alleging criminal conspiracy to incite violence via the incident - arresting four PFI members and a journalist. The government which has formed a 3-member SIT to probe into the case, has also filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court demanding an SC-monitored CBI probe while contending that 'no sexual assault occurred'. Five police officers including the district's Police Superintendent (SP) Vikrant Vir have been suspended for the 'midnight funeral'.