Officials said that the mosque chief was earlier taken into custody by the local police’s special investigation team (SIT) to record his statement in the violence case.
Sambhal’s Shahi Jama Masjid committee president Zafar Ali was arrested on Sunday in connection with the violence that erupted in the Uttar Pradesh district last year on November 24 over a court-ordered survey of the mosque, a police officer said.
Officials said that the mosque chief was earlier taken into custody by the local police’s special investigation team (SIT) to record his statement in the violence case. However, Ali’s brother alleged that this was done to prevent him from submitting testimony before a three-member judicial commission on March 24.
Panel to investigate violence case
A four-member panel was formed by the Uttar Pradesh government to investigate the violence in which four people were killed and several injured. The Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal has been pivotal to communal tension in the area, which was triggered after a petition claimed that the site used to be the place of an ancient Hindu temple.
Sambhal Superintendent of Police Krishan Kumar Bishnoi, while talking to PTI, said Shahi Jama Masjid chief Jafar Ali has been arrested in connection with the November 24 violence case. He didn’t elaborate further.
‘No problem, I am ready to go to jail’
Zafar Ali’s elder brother Tahir Ali alleged that the police were “deliberately” sending the mosque chief to jail before his testimony could be recorded before the judicial panel on Monday.
“Around 11:15 am, an inspector and the investigating officer (of the case) came to our house, saying that CO (circle officer) Kuldeep Singh wanted to talk. He had spoken with us last night as well. Zafar was supposed to testify before the commission tomorrow and that is why they are deliberately sending him to jail,” the brother told reporters.
“Zafar has already given his statement in a press conference and he will not retract it. He had clearly said that the police fired shots, and those who died were killed by police bullets,” he added.
Responding to questions about his conversation with Zafar Ali before he was taken into custody, Tahir said, “He told me, ‘No problem, I am ready to go to jail. I will not back down from the truth’”.
Tahir also alleged Sambhal administration deliberately incited public unrest.
