LUCKNOW: Two brothers -- Mohammad Adil and Mohammad Kamal -- were held on Monday on charges of desecrating and vandalising three mazaars (shrines) to vitiate communal atmosphere during the ongoing Kanwar Yatra in Bijnor district of western UP.
Both the men were spotted donning saffron turbans and destroying over 100 years old ‘Mazaars’ — Dargah Bhure Shah Baba and Jalalshah Baba along with Qutub Shah’s tomb — in Bijnor’s Sherkot area on Sunday evening. They also set on fire the ‘chaadar’ offered on the tomb.
As per the highly-placed sources, both Adil and Kamal were being grilled by sleuths of the UP Anti-Terrorist Squad, Intelligence Bureau and Special Task Force to find out their motive behind the mischief. “A big communal conspiracy was prevented on July 24 under Sherkot Police Station limits. The district police got the information was received about two people ransacking Jalal Shah Mazar and burning several ‘chadar’,” said ADG (Law and order) Prashant Kumar.
“No doubt motive was to disrupt communal harmony. They attempted this on key day of Kanwar. Had police not been vigilant, it could have led to something serious. Case has been registered against both the accused and investigation is on,” said Prashant Kumar, ADG (Law & Order).
The ADG claimed that there were initial reports of desecration of a few religious books also but investigation showed that no damage to the religious inscriptions was done.
“No damage done to religious texts,” he emphasised. According to Kumar, the two accused are brothers by relation and had earlier desecrated the Qutub Shah Mazar in Sherkot.
“This whole matter shows attempts to soil the atmosphere amid the Kanwar Yatra. Field officers instructed to be more alert; continuous social media monitoring also underway,” ADG Kumar emphasised.
According to ADG (Law and Order), the information received so far claimed that accused Kamal had travelled to many countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and the investigation agencies would also probe this angle. Apart from the ATS, IB and STF, other central agencies are also expected to interrogate the men.
The incident came to light when some passers-by spotted the brothers carrying out the rampage and informed the police. Soon, the Bijnor DM and SP reached the spot and ordered to start the repair work on the three vandalized tombs immediately in order to avert a sensitive situation that could have snowballed into a big controversy and communal flare-up.
The timing of the incident is also suspect since it came just a day before Shivratri of Saawan month on Tuesday when huge movement of ‘Kanwariyas’ would be observed.