Seven were arrested by Uttar Pradesh police for targeting mosques in Ayodhya with objectionable posters and objects

Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) [India] : The Uttar Pradesh police arrested about seven accused allegedly disturbing the law and order in Ayodhya by dropping objectionable posters and objects at several mosques late Thursday night.

According to the Ayodhya police, about 11 people were involved in throwing objectionable posters and other objects in the mosques across the town. They would travel on the motorcycles and throw the posters and objects at the mosques. Out of 11 accused, seven have been arrested by the police.

The 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 the accused are the residents of Ayodhya town.

Shailesh Kumar Pandey, senior superintendent of police in Ayodhya said that the police have launched a manhunt to nab the other four accused involved in the incident. “We will soon arrest the four accused. All the accused will be booked under the Gangsters Act and NSA apart from other sections”

Police said the accused have been booked under section 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 (IPC).

According to Pandey, Mahesh Kumar Mishra is the kingpin and conspirator behind the entire incident. He along with other accused had planned to target a mosque in Beniganj Tiraha, but they could not execute the plan due to the presence of the police surveillance vehicle. However, they threw the objectionable posters and materials at the Ayodhya’s Masjid Kashmiri Mohalla, TatShah mosque, Ghosiyana Ramnagar Masjid, Idgah Civil Line mosque, and Gulab Shah Dargah behind Dargah Jail.