Muzaffarnagar/Lucknow: Curfew was eased for nine hours on Thursday in riot-hit areas of Muzaffarnagar with no reports of fresh incidents even as 12 BJP MLAs were stopped from visiting the district.
People came out in large numbers to get their daily needs as curfew imposed in Kotwali, Civil Lines and Nai Mandi areas of the district on Saturday last following communal violence, was eased from 10 am to 5 pm and later extended till 7 pm, IG STF, Ashish Gupta told reporters. He said that reports have come in that the CD which purportedly incited tension in the area is still in circulation.
Police has issued an appeal to the people not to pay heed to it besides giving an advertisement in this regard. The government has also announced a cash reward of Rs one lakh to anyone providing clue to the exact source of the CD/clipping, he said.
Police on Thursday stopped about 12 BJP MLAs from going to the troubled areas and also made a number of preventive arrests.
To a question on when those named in the FIRs including BJP MLAs would be arrested, Gupta said that video clippings and CD is being analysed and action would be taken on the basis of its findings.
Altogether 100 illegal arms have been recovered, preventive action taken against 1,700 people and 2,300 arm licences cancelled, he said. Three more police station incharges have been suspended on charges of deriliction of duty besides the one who was suspended earlier.

A doctor attending patients in a Muslim dominated area of the violence-hit Muzaffarnagar during the relaxed curfew hours on Thursday - PTI
Home secretary Kamal Saxena said five persons were reported missing in Muzaffarnagar and one in Saharanpur.
The state government had on Wednesday set up a helpline to gather information about the missing persons.
Cheques worth over rupees one crore have been distributed to the kin of the deceased and the injured, Saxena said adding that there are still about 10,000 people in relief camps and essential commodities were being provided to them.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will visit Muzaffarnagar, Congress and the SP stated.
In Agra, the chief minister said that he would go to meet the affected people in Muzaffarnagar soon.
Congress general secretary Madhusudan Mistry in Sonebhadra (also in UP) said his party leaders would visit the district next week.
Demanding stern action against all those found responsible for the Muzaffarnagar riots, Mistry said those instigating violence cannot be allowed to go scot free on the ground that they are workers of political parties or are public servants The death toll in the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar has touched 38.
12 bodies were awaiting post-mortem and police was trying to ascertain whether the deaths were linked to the communal violence. The overall toll has gone up to 44 with two deaths having been reported from Meerut, one each from Hapur, Baghpat, Saharapur and Shamli.
A gun, 41 cartridges of AK-47 and 17 other cartridges were seized during house-to-house searches in a village in Baghpat on Wednesday. Several shops opened on Thursday when curfew was eased.
However, all schools and colleges would remain closed till September 15 ADG (Law and Order) Arun Kumar said 67 people were injured in the violence and 408 persons arrested.
Kumar had said two of the suspects in the violence, Vikram Saini and Mukarram, have been detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).
In Delhi, BJP chief Rajnath Singh demanded Centre's immediate intervention on the Muzaffarnagar violence issue and said if the state government failed to control such incidents, President's rule should be imposed there.
Union Minister R.P.N. Singh asked parties not to politicise the riots, saying inciting violence to get votes was deeply condemnable. "Inciting riots for votes is deeply condemnable and our entire political class must condemn this not just in words but in our actions!," he wrote on microblogging site Twitter.
Meanwhile, Home Department sources said three new deputy SPs have been posted in Muzaffarnagar.
DySP Badaun Mukesh Chandra Misra, DySP Bijnore Subhash Chandra Gangwar and DySP Sambhal Jagvir Singh Arti have been transferred to Muzaffarnagar, sources added. 
Next: SC seeks report from Centre, UP

SC seeks report from Centre, UP 
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to take immediate steps in association with the Centre to bring under control the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and ensure safe passage to people stranded in the conflict zone.
Taking into account the grim picture of riot affected areas projected by a group of lawyers whose family members were affected in it which has so far claimed 44 lives, the apex court dismissed the plea of UP government that no order be passed on the petitions for the time being.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam disapproved Akhilesh Yadav government's stiff opposition to involve the Centre on the issue of law and order in the riot-hit districts.
"We feel that this court has to go into this aspect. We cannot dismiss the petitions in limini (summarily)," the bench, also comprising justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Ranjan Gogoi said while directing Centre and UP government to file compliance report on the next date of hearing on September 16.
The bench said that the notice to the Centre will be served through the office of Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati. It directed the state government and the centre to take immediate steps to bring stranded people to a safe place and also rehabilitate them.
The bench also directed the authorities to ensure that those injured are provided with immediate medical assistance.
Seeking the immediate intervention of the apex court in the matter, senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam said the situation in the western districts of the state was grim as mobs had set ablaze many religious places, shops and houses and that the state government has failed to contain the situation.
He submitted that the people of that area had approached various authorities including the PMO but the situation has remained serious and tense since August 29