BHOPAL: Nine persons, all from the minority community, have been arrested so far in connection with the alleged attack on a Hanuman Jayanti procession – which was being taken out without permission of authorities – in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday evening.
According to official sources, nine men, including the prime accused and history-sheeter Vicky Khan, who is believed to have masterminded the alleged attack on the procession, have been arrested by the local police till Sunday afternoon.
The alleged incident in the communally sensitive Karnal Ganj locality of Guna city had happened at around 7:30 pm, when the Hanuman Jayanti procession, led by the local BJP municipal councillor Om Prakash ‘Gabbar’ Kushwah, was passing through the sensitive locality.
When the procession reached near a place of worship, some individuals, led by history-sheeter Vicky Khan, objected to the loud DJ music and offensive religious slogans. The heated exchange between the groups suddenly turned violent.
“Just when the heated exchange of words was happening, people from the top of the mosque started pelting stones on the procession. Stones were pelted on the procession by people from houses neighbouring the mosque, including Vicky Khan’s house. Vicky’s son, Amin Khan, fired from a pistol on one of the devotees in the procession, but the devotee Rajat Gwal had a narrow escape. The attack, which was carried out by Vicky Khan and his men, has resulted in injuries to nine to ten forming part of the procession,” the BJP councillor Kushwah mentioned in the complaint.
Heavy police force, which was led by the Guna district police superintendent Sanjiv Kumar Sinha, later had a tough time controlling the situation. An FIR, on the complaint of Kushwah, was registered at the Guna City Kotwali against five named and 15–20 unidentified accused, including Vicky Khan, at around 11 pm on Saturday.
“Nine men, including the prime accused and mastermind of the attack, history-sheeter Vicky Khan, and one of his sons, Sameer, have been arrested and search is on for the other accused,” ASP-Guna Man Singh Thakur said on Sunday.
The nine arrested men, besides the prime accused Vicky Khan and his son Sameer Khan, include Taufiq, Sonu, Anas, Shaqil, Atiq, Sahil and Sohrab. Five of them, including Vicky Khan, have a criminal history.
While nine men have been arrested following the late-night FIR registered under BNS sections 109, 296, 324(4), 125, 191(2) and (3), 190 and 115(2), no action has yet been taken against the BJP councillor for taking out the religious procession on Saturday evening without permission.
Importantly, the present BJP councillor Kushwah had defeated Vicky Khan in the past in the urban body civic elections.
After the Saturday evening incident, the Guna district police superintendent, Sanjiv Sinha, had confirmed that the Hanuman Jayanti procession was being taken out without any permission from authorities.
“I’ve cross-checked it from the concerned sub-divisional magistrate, who has confirmed that the religious procession was being taken out sans permission. I was myself monitoring the entire development on the CCTV camera. The tension erupted due to the procession stopping near the place of worship and those in the procession indulging in slogan shouting,” Sinha had told journalists on Saturday late night.