Ghaziabad: A 28-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday after a video showing a mazar being smashed with hammers in the Navyug Market area emerged online.
A one-minute video accessed by TOI shows a group of men striking the structure with hammers while raising religious slogans. The structure was completely demolished.
ACP Kotwali Upasana Singh confirmed that the video was about two months old. She said once the video surfaced online, they formed a team to investigate the matter.
A senior police officer said sub-inspector Ankit Rathore visited the area and questioned more than 20 people. He learnt that the mazar had been destroyed about two months ago. Some people told him that the men loaded the debris in a cart so that no one could find any sign of the mazar.
Based on the sub-inspector's reports, the police filed an FIR against unknown individuals under BNS sections 298 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult religion of any class) and 324(4) (mischief causing damage to the amount of 50 rupees).
Police arrested a Ghaziabad resident, Adarsh Dubey in this case, on Tuesday. Police said Gupta is a member of a fringe group. He told police that the group took such an action because the structure was an encroachment and there had been no such structure a few months ago.
ACP Pandey said the teams are searching for the troublemakers and they will be arrested soon.
On Monday, police arrested Prince Thakur (25) for demolishing a mazar located under a flyover near Hindon Chhath Puja Ghat in Sahibabad. Police took action after they saw a video of the incident on social media.
In the video, Thakur and his associates can be seen with a hammer and other tools while demolishing the structure.
ACP Sahibabad Shweta Yadav said an FIR has been registered against him under BNS sections 298 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult religion of any class) and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).
Avishek Kumar is a city reporter at the Times of India in Noida a...
Read MoreAvishek Kumar is a city reporter at the Times of India in Noida and Ghaziabad. He reports on crime, fire, and traffic with a particular focus on civic issues. Over the course of more than five years in journalism, he covered a broad spectrum of city beats, including courts and civics. He is committed to pursuing leads and producing hard-hitting, fact-based, field-exclusive reports.
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