West Bengal Police have arrested 35 persons for violence during protests on July 5 following the rape and murder of a minor, The New Indian Express reported.

While 30 had been arrested earlier, the police said on Friday that five more had been held.

“Others involved are being identified through multiple videos that went viral,” superintendent of police Arvind Kumar Anand told Reuters.

The body of the 11-year-old girl was recovered from a sack in a pond in the Surjyapur area of Baruipur town in South 24 Parganas district, a day after she was reported missing.

The case was initially registered as a missing person complaint on Saturday after her father reported her disappearance. Following the preliminary investigation, police added charges of rape, gang rape, murder, destruction of evidence and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The incident triggered widespread protests, with demonstrators blocking roads and a railway line, burning tyres and vandalising police vehicles.

During the unrest, residents allegedly caught two suspects and assaulted them. A 26-year-old man suspected of being associated with the persons accused in the matter was also lynched by a mob on Sunday.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said that the man who was lynched was innocent.

Three persons Prabhas Mondal, Dibakar Sardar and Ananda Sardar were arrested. On Wednesday, Mondal was killed in an alleged gunfight with the police.

The police claimed that when the crime scene was being reconstructed, Mondal attempted to snatch a weapon from the police and open fire at them. The police fired at Mondal “in retaliation” and he was declared dead at the hospital.

The state government has set up a Special Investigation Team headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Pinaki Dutta to investigate the case.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.