Hindustan Times: Two held for brandishing rifle at Japanese junior hockey team

Lucknow police on Saturday arrested two youth who allegedly trained their rifle on the Japanese junior hockey team on Friday when it was on its way back to the team hotel after playing its match in the Junior World Cup.

The youth, Lovkush and Pramod, residents of Mandiaon police circle, have been arrested under the Arms Act. Following a report in the Hindustan Times on Saturday, the police swung into action and arrested the youth.

Interestingly, the police had on Friday refused to accept that the youth were carrying a rifle. Even the circle officer, Dinesh Kumar Puri, had given a clean chit to the youth, saying that he didn’t find them in possession of any rifle.

Sub inspector Pawan Kumar of Khurram Nagar outpost lodged an FIR only on Saturday when the Japanese team reportedly lodged a complaint with their embassy.

The issue has also been reported to the international hockey federation (FIH) and Hockey India (HI), which is hosting the event in association with Uttar Pradesh Hockey.

On Friday, two youth driving an SUV bearing the Samajwadi Party flag overtook the Japanese players’ bus near Khurram Nagar crossing and intercepted it. One of them jumped out of the vehicle with his rifle and started abusing the bus driver and the team members for overtaking their SUV.