7 Arrested In Ayodhya For Throwing Objectionable Items At Mosques

Four of them are still absconding!

Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh: On Thursday, Seven people were arrested by the Ayodhya police, all accused of disturbing the peace and equanimity of the city by throwing objectionable posters and objects at several mosques in Ayodhya.

The arrested accused have been identified as Mahesh Kumar Mishra, Pratyush Srivastava, Nitin Kumar, Deepak Kumar Gaur alias Gunjan, Brijesh Pandey, Shatrughan Prajapati, and Vimal Pandey. All of them are residents of Ayodhya only.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Ayodhya), Shailesh Kumar Pandey, said that the incident was carried out by 11 people out of which seven have been arrested while four others are absconding.

"A total of eight persons on four motorcycles, led by Mahesh, threw objectionable posters and objects outside the mosques. The police recovered the objects, a mobile phone, and vehicles that had been impounded. We have arrested seven people so far, four are absconding. We will arrest them very soon. Action under the Gangsters Act and NSA will also be initiated against them," said the SSP.

During the investigation, it was found that Mahesh Kumar Mishra was the main conspirator and along with his other accomplices, a conspiracy was hatched at Brijesh Pandey's house in opposition to the recent incident in Jahangirpuri of Delhi.

It also came to light that the accused on the night of Wednesday first reached the Beniganj Tiraha where after seeing a Police Response Vehicle (PRV) car could not execute the plan on Beniganj Masjid and thus moved to other mosques. They threw the objectionable posters and objects at Ayodhya's Masjid Kashmiri Mohalla, Tatshah Mosque, Ghosiyana Ramnagar Masjid, Idgah Civil Line Mosque and Gulab Shah Dargah behind Dargah Jail.

Police also said that out of the seven arrested, three accused have a previous criminal record.

"The accused Mahesh has four cases registered against him in Kotwali Police station Ayodhya. Apart from this, the accused Nitin and Vimal also have cases registered against them," said a police officer.

Police said that all the seven accused have been booked under Sections 295 (injuring or defiling places of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.