New Delhi: The Delhi Police has claimed that the terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is behind an alleged plot, made last month, to assassinate Dasna Devi Mandir’s controversial mahant (chief priest) Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati. The police had received intelligence about the alleged plot on 28 April and an FIR had been lodged in the case.
The JeM connection to the case was revealed following the arrest of Mohammed Dar, a 25-year-old resident of Kashmir’s Pulwama, from a hotel in Central Delhi’s Paharganj. Dar is an accused in the case.
Dar had earlier been arrested in Kashmir in a stone pelting incident in 2016, following Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani’s killing by Jammu & Kashmir Police. Wani’s death had triggered wide-spread protests in the state.
According to the police, during the interrogation, Dar revealed that he had been tasked by the JeM to kill Narsinghanand, to avenge “disrespectful comments” made by the priest against Prophet Muhammad, and was allegedly paid Rs 41,000 to carry out the assassination.
“The plan was to dress up like a Hindu priest to kill Yati Narsinghanand. The accused was told that the priest has insulted the Prophet, is anti-Muslim and has committed a crime for which he needs to be punished,” a senior police officer told ThePrint.
Police recovered an orange kurta, a white pyjama, a piece of Kalava (holy thread), a string of beads, sandalwood paste and a box of kumkum (vermilion), along with a .30 bore pistol with 15 rounds of magazine from Dar’s hotel room.
An FIR had been lodged against Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati last month, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, with his remarks on Prophet Muhammad, during a press conference in Delhi.
Narsinghanand had earlier been in the news after a 14-year-old Muslim boy was beaten up for entering the premises of Dasna Devi mandir to drink water.
The temple’s gate bears a board with the writing, “Ye mandir Hinduon ka pavitra sthal hai, yahan Musalmanon ka pravesh varjit hai (This temple is a holy place for Hindus, entry of Muslims is banned here).”
Dar has been booked under 120B (whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable with death) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 25 of the Arms Act.
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Plotting using Telegram, WhatsApp
A carpenter by profession, Dar said he had come in contact with a Pakistan-based JeM operative, Abid, at his native village in Pulwama, in December last year.
“Abid and Dar kept in touch through WhatsApp and the former kept motivating Dar to work for Jaish-e-Mohammed. In the second week of April, Abid called Dar to Sangam village in Anantnag and informed him that he would have to go to Delhi to kill Yati Narsinghanand. He was shown videos of the priest making controversial remarks on Islam and the Prophet. He was told that the priest had committed ‘Gustakh-e-Rasool’ [which loosely translates to insulting or being disrespectful to the Prophet ]. After Dar agreed, he was given small arms training in the same village and taught target shooting with a pistol,” the Delhi Police officer quoted above said.
According to the police, Dar was paid Rs 6,500 in cash by Abid and Rs 35,000 was deposited in his bank account.
On 23 April, Dar left for Delhi where he met allegedly Abid’s Delhi contact, Umar. “Dar and Umar remained in touch through Telegram and met in the Jama Masjid area for the first time. Umar arranged for his stay in Delhi and was also supposed to help Dar get access to Narsinghanand,” the officer said.
According to the police, Dar told them that it was Umar who bought the necessary items for the disguise, which were later recovered by police in the hotel room. “Umar and Dar both received an arms consignment [in Delhi last month] from another person on the flyover near the hotel,” the source said.
Delhi Police is now on the lookout for Umar and the other individual who provided Dar with arms.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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