Muzaffarnagar Police clueless about suspects in mosque bomb blast

Even as tension prevailed, the police in Muzaffarnagar are clueless as to who were behind Tuesday's bomb blast at a mosque in Bhumma of the district. The imam of the mosque was injured in the blast and it was seen as retaliation to a murder of a youth in front of the mosque on Monday.

The police have now initiated action to thwart possible communal flare-up, following an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report that such a sinister plan has been hatched. Led by Superintendent of Police (Crime) Rakesh Jolly, the police and paramilitary forces have staged a flag march in the area.

Tension prevailed in the area where a youth was murdered on Monday in front of the mosque in Bhumma. It was alleged that the youth, Satveer Kashyap, was murdered by three men who belonged to the minority community. Within 24 hours, on Tuesday, two bombs were allegedly hurled at the mosque in which the imam was injured.

Bombing

Mosque's imam Mohammad Muneer told the police that two bombs were hurled at him from outside the mosque. There were about six religious preachers in the mosque at that time, he said. "We were standing in the mosque when two bombs exploded simultaneously. Someone had hurled them at me from outside the wall," he said. The police have recovered a third crude bomb from near the mosque. Police suspect that the intention of the culprits was to foment communal trouble in the area. However, SP Jolly said the explosion was due to fire crackers that were used to alert the people to break their fast during Ramzan.

Satveer was shot dead allegedly by his former friends possibly because he was active during the September 2013 riots in Muzaffarnagar. Satveer's younger brother Arjun Kashyap said, "Satveer had managed to control a mob of the minority community on September 7, 2013. Since then Mohammad Yaqub, Mona Saleem and Afzal Islam, who were his friends once, have been seeking an opportunity to kill him." He said the policemen had called Satveer to a tea stall. "When he was going there, the killers shot him dead," Arjun said.

Violence

Following the murder, people from both the communities had gathered at the spot. Soon, the crowd indulged in large-scale violence, following allegation that the culprits had taken refuge in the mosque.

Director General of Police Jagmohan Yadav said that IB input did point at a possible communal flare-up. "Anti-social elements are trying to exploit such incidents and incite communal hatred. My target is to prevent such incidents and punish the culprits."

Muzaffarnagar Senior Superintendent of Police KB Singh said, "The police have been deployed in the area. The policemen who were posted there on Monday night, including SHO Mohammad Shoyeb and two constables, have already been suspended for dereliction of duty. A probe is going on."

He said Satveer's alleged killers, Mohammad Yaqub and Mona Saleem, have been arrested. But Afzal Islam and an unidentified killer were at large.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have alleged that the police were trying to protect the killers. Party leaders Kapildeo Agrawal and Nitin Mallick met senior administration officials, including district magistrate Ram Kishan Sharma, and demanded fast action.

Sharma informed the newspersons that the state government has agreed to pay Rs 10 lakh as a compensation to the family of the murdered youth. One member of the family would also be offered a government job, he said.

However, BJP leaders have demanded Rs 25 lakh as compensation and an arms licence for a member of the family. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Narendra Singh Pawar said, "We want a probe into the role of the police in the killing."