Unidentified people set the entrance of a mosque on fire in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj on Monday, barely a week after a man was killed in communal clashes in the town on Republic Day. However, no damage was reported, police said.
The incident took place around 3 am in the Ganjdundwara area, Kasganj Superintendent of Police Piyush Srivasatava told DNA. Fire tenders reached the spot in time to put off the fire.
Senior district and police officials led by Srivastava and District Magistrate RP Singh went to the area to calm the angry residents, IANS reported. The Rapid Action Force also held a flag march. Shops in the area were closed on Monday morning and police have increased patrolling, an unnamed official said.
“The situation is being closely monitored,” a state Home Department official was quoted as saying. “The district administration is at the spot. Peace was returning to the area. No one behind this mischief will be spared.”
The police filed a case against unidentified persons and have suspended two constables, who were on night duty in the area, DNA reported.
Violence broke out in Kasganj on January 26 when a group of bike-borne men, believed to be associated with Hindutva groups, allegedly disrupted a Republic Day programme in a Muslim-dominated colony. They allegedly came waving saffron flags and the Indian tricolour and got involved in heated arguments with the residents of the colony. One person, identified as Chandan Gupta alias Abhishek, was killed in the clashes.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik had called it a blot on the state’s reputation. The police have lodged seven First Information Reports in cases related to the violence and arrested over a hundred people.
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