Four men were arrested on Thursday for setting Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s home in Uttarakhand’s Nainital city on fire, The Times of India reported.
The incident had taken place on Monday amid a controversy about Khurshid’s book on the Ayodhya verdict, in which he compares Hindutva to terror groups ISIS and Boko Haram. BJP leaders had criticised Khurshid for the comment and two lawyers in Delhi filed complaints against him.
A group of men went to the Congress leader’s home on Monday to shout slogans against him, PTI reported, quoting Kumaon Deputy inspector General Nilesh Anand Bharane. They got into an argument with the caretaker of the property after which they vandalised it.
Photos and videos, shared by Khurshid on social media after the attack on his home, showed flames and damaged door and windows.
The police had booked 21 persons in connection with the incident. They formed three teams to identify arrest the accused persons, according to The Times of India.
Four of them – Chandan Singh Lodhiyal, Umesh Mehta, Rajkumar Mehta and Krishna Singh Bisht Rajkumar Mehta – were arrested on Thursday.
One of the accused persons told the police that he and his associates burnt effigies of Khurshid and shouted slogans outside his house.
“It was the caretaker who hurled abuses at us, which infuriated us and we opened fire and burnt a part of the house,” the man said, according to The Times of India “After the incident, when we learnt that a case has been registered against us, we were going to Haldwani to arrange a lawyer for us but police arrested us.”
The police are trying to track down the key suspect and other accused persons.
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