Kanpur: Members of Hindu right-wing outfits created a ruckus at a mausoleum in Fatehpur district Monday, claiming it to be a temple site where they had the right to pray.
Police booked more than 150 people for damaging public property and disturbing peace.
“We have found several videos showing several people carrying saffron flags, chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ around the tomb, but no one was seen carrying firearms,” Superintendent of Police (Fatehpur) Anoop Kumar Singh said.
Police have named in the FIR Dharmendra Singh (Bajrang Dal), Abhishek Shukla (BJP), Ajay Singh (District Panchayat Member), Devnath Dhakad (BJP), Vinay Tiwari (Municipal Councillor), Pushpraj Patel, Rithik Pal (BJP), Prasoon Tiwari (BJP), and Pappu Chauhan (Samajwadi Party).
Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said that the government has taken the incident seriously.
A security cover had been laid around the centuries-old mausoleum of Nawab Abu Samad after BJP district president Mukhlal Pal warned the district administration that he, along with Hindu organisations, would perform prayers at the site August 11.
Pal claimed that the centuries-old structure was a temple with a ‘shivling’.
A video that made rounds on social media showed some people vandalising parts of the structure and hoisting a saffron flag.
The Fatehpur SP said police were probing how the mob entered the mausoleum.
Police contingents from several areas, including Kotwali, Radhanagar, Malwan and Husainganj, were deployed to maintain law and order.
Pal has claimed that the site was a temple of ‘Thakur Ji,’ and it was converted into a mausoleum by “invaders.”
He claimed that symbols like the trident and lotus inside the structure are markers of a Hindu temple and are never found in a mausoleum.
The Math-Mandir Sanrakshan Sangharsh Samiti, a body representing local Hindu leaders, submitted a memorandum to District Magistrate Ravindra Singh, demanding his intervention.
The committee alleged that the “temple” was in a “severely dilapidated” condition, posing both a safety hazard to devotees and a threat to mar the city’s cultural heritage.
On the other hand, the Rashtriya Ulema Council has sent a letter to the DM urging the administration not to tamper with the historical character of the tomb.
The mausoleum’s caretaker (Mutawalli), Mohammad Nafis, said that the structure is nearly 500 years old and was built by Emperor Akbar’s grandson.
It houses the graves of Abu Mohammad and Abu Samad, he said.
The SP admitted that some people broke through the security cordon and indulged in vandalism.
“Some carried bamboo sticks and hurled stones, but claims of attackers carrying firearms are incorrect,” he said.
“The situation is now peaceful. People have returned home and only the police remain at the spot,” he added.
Pathak said the BJP’s motto was “appeasement of none, satisfaction of all,” and it was not the one to spread hate.
He also claimed that riots have been completely controlled in over eight years of the BJP government, which the Samajwadi Party cannot accept.
He alleged that the Samajwadi Party was fanning Hindu-Muslim strife to strengthen its vote bank.
Responding, Yadav in a post on X said, “The incident that happened in Fatehpur is a sign of the BJP coming to an end. Whenever the BJP and its allies start getting exposed, a conspiracy is hatched to spoil the harmony. The public has now understood this BJP trick. Now the public will neither get stuck in such acts nor will they get misled by these incidents.”
He added, “It remains to be seen whether the culprits of this incident will be identified by the drones of Lucknow or the drones of the people of Delhi. Long live social unity!”
PTI
