lucknow sedition charges were slapped on wednesday against the newlyelected pradhan of belauta village aslam khan and his four associates who were arrested last week by sitapur police for allegedly raising antiindia slogans and praising pakistan khans family told toi he was implicated by his rivalsuperintendent of police sitapur r p singh said a preliminary probe was launched and the videoaudio footage of khans remarks were analysed he was clearly heard raising propakistan slogans and the sedition charge was added to the fir on basis of solid evidence we had arrested the accused on may 8 he saidtalking to toi the pradhans elder brother shakeel khan alleged the rival candidate had planted youngsters in the crowd who raised propakistan slogans he videographed the procession and used the footage to frame my brother he saidshakeel said the video circulated on social media showed children raising slogans and neither his brother nor any adult was part of the procession a rightwing outfit had mounted pressure on police to add sedition charges in the fir he was initially booked only for violating covid guidelines he saidstation house officer thanagaon anil singh said aslam and his associates salman atiq farid and arif had come out on the streets to celebrate the victory beating drums aslam and his supporters raised propakistan slogans which could have triggered a communal clash a police team reached the spot after complaints from residents singh said adding aslam and his supporters also flouted covid19 guidelineson may 8 khan and his aides were booked for outraging religious feelings and under sections of epidemic act