Kanpur (UP) Aug 13 (PTI) Police were yet to arrest anyone booked in connection with vandalism of a mausoleum in Fatehpur’s Abu Nagar locality, where plainclothesmen roamed the streets talking to the locals to prevent a communal flare-up.
A one-kilometre radius around the mausoleum has been cordoned off with eight barricades, an officer said on Wednesday.
Media entry has been banned in the area, and locals have been barred from speaking to outsiders.
Members of Hindu right-wing outfits vandalised a mausoleum in Fatehpur district on Monday, claiming it to be a temple site where they had the right to pray.
On Tuesday, police booked more than 150 people, 10 of them named, for damaging public property and disturbing the peace.
The 10 named in the FIR are 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), Ashish Trivedi, and Pappu Chauhan (Samajwadi Party).
An officer said searches are on to locate those named in the FIR and the 150 unidentified.
Police, however, arrested the Congress’s city president, Arif alias Gudda, along with his several supporters, for holding a protest, demanding the arrest of the vandals.
Congress’s district president, Mahesh Dwivedi, was also placed under house arrest early in the morning when a party delegation comprising two former MLAs planned to visit the site, another senior officer said.
Dwivedi condemned the action as “dictatorial” and accused the administration of acting as a “silent spectator” while the mausoleum vandalism happened.
Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Uttam Patel condemned the incident and said he had sent a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking an investigation by an independent agency into the matter.
Police in plainclothes are roaming sensitive areas near the mausoleum, interacting with locals and monitoring the activities of both communities, an officer said.
Tensions flared briefly administration denied the burial of Wahidul Nisa, a local woman, near the site. She was buried later at a different place under police supervision.
Vijay Shankar Shukla, head of the Tameshwar Temple Mela Committee, has claimed that the mausoleum was “Thakur Siddhpeeth Temple.” He warned of a large-scale protest if members of the Hindu community are arrested.
Inspector General of police (Prayagraj) Ajay Mishra has also begun an inquiry into possible lapses in police response, recording the force members’ statements, an officer said.
The mausoleum’s caretaker (Mutawalli), Mohammad Nafis, said that the structure is nearly 500 years old and was built by Emperor Akbar’s grandson. PTI COR ABN VN VN
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