Express News Service
GURUGRAM: The police have arrested three of the five accused who allegedly started a fire at a multi-cultural religious place, Ghasite Ram, in Khandsa here on the intervening night of August 5-6, a senior Gurugram Police official said on Tuesday.The accused were identified as Gulshan (a shopkeeper), Vijay (an auto driver) and Lalit (who works as a delivery boy for a pharmacy). The police have also identified two more suspects who are still at large.Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Varun Dahiya said that the five men committed the act after getting influenced by social media posts on the communal clashes that began in the neighbouring Nuh district and spread to other parts of the city and nearby areas last week.”The five hatched the plan after seeing various social media posts on the Nuh violence. The accused, in a drunken state, started the fire at the mazar on Sunday night and fled. Our team identified them and arrested three of them. We are questioning the accused,” the senior official said during a media briefing.Notably, when the incident took place, the city was already under the imposition of section 144 of the CrPc which prohibited the gathering of five or more persons with weapons in a bid to restore peace and tranquility in the area.
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As per the FIR, accessed by this newspaper, which was lodged based on the complaint of the caretaker of Ghasite Ram, people of different religions used to come to this place for worship.”I have been taking care of this Mazaar for the past 7 years. There were pictures of several Hindu deities like Valmiki, Kabir and even Gautam Budhha placed on the wall,” Ghasite Ram told .Ram, in his complaint to the police, stated that on August 5 around 8.30 he had left the place after performing the puja and a few hours later around 1.30 am at night someone rang him up and told him that some unknown people had set the religious place on fire.“When I arrived, I saw that the articles used for worship inside the door of the religious place were burnt. I have come to know that five-six young boys gathered and set it on fire. By doing this, they have hurt the sentiments of people’s faith and can spread discord in society,” Ram wrote in his complaint in Hindi.According to the police, they too received information around 1.30 am regarding a religious place being set on fire after which the police staff rushed to the spot and found the complainant Ghasite Ram there.
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Accordingly, based on the complaint, an FIR under sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 188 (disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) of the Indian Penal Code was registered by the Gurugram Police.Meanwhile, 312 persons have been arrested in 142 cases related to the violence last week.At least six people were killed, including two Home Guard Jawans, while more than 100 people sustained injuries from minor to major levels in the violent communal clashes that erupted in the Nuh district of Haryana on July 31.
GURUGRAM: The police have arrested three of the five accused who allegedly started a fire at a multi-cultural religious place, Ghasite Ram, in Khandsa here on the intervening night of August 5-6, a senior Gurugram Police official said on Tuesday.The accused were identified as Gulshan (a shopkeeper), Vijay (an auto driver) and Lalit (who works as a delivery boy for a pharmacy). The police have also identified two more suspects who are still at large.Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Varun Dahiya said that the five men committed the act after getting influenced by social media posts on the communal clashes that began in the neighbouring Nuh district and spread to other parts of the city and nearby areas last week.”The five hatched the plan after seeing various social media posts on the Nuh violence. The accused, in a drunken state, started the fire at the mazar on Sunday night and fled. Our team identified them and arrested three of them. We are questioning the accused,” the senior official said during a media briefing.Notably, when the incident took place, the city was already under the imposition of section 144 of the CrPc which prohibited the gathering of five or more persons with weapons in a bid to restore peace and tranquility in the area.
ALSO READ | Demolition exercise in Nuh halted on High Court orders
As per the FIR, accessed by this newspaper, which was lodged based on the complaint of the caretaker of Ghasite Ram, people of different religions used to come to this place for worship.”I have been taking care of this Mazaar for the past 7 years. There were pictures of several Hindu deities like Valmiki, Kabir and even Gautam Budhha placed on the wall,” Ghasite Ram told .Ram, in his complaint to the police, stated that on August 5 around 8.30 he had left the place after performing the puja and a few hours later around 1.30 am at night someone rang him up and told him that some unknown people had set the religious place on fire.“When I arrived, I saw that the articles used for worship inside the door of the religious place were burnt. I have come to know that five-six young boys gathered and set it on fire. By doing this, they have hurt the sentiments of people’s faith and can spread discord in society,” Ram wrote in his complaint in Hindi.According to the police, they too received information around 1.30 am regarding a religious place being set on fire after which the police staff rushed to the spot and found the complainant Ghasite Ram there.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
ALSO READ | From cow-vigilantism to illegal mining, decoding Haryana’s communal violence-hit Mewat region
Accordingly, based on the complaint, an FIR under sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 188 (disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) of the Indian Penal Code was registered by the Gurugram Police.Meanwhile, 312 persons have been arrested in 142 cases related to the violence last week.At least six people were killed, including two Home Guard Jawans, while more than 100 people sustained injuries from minor to major levels in the violent communal clashes that erupted in the Nuh district of Haryana on July 31.
