A day after four police officers were injured in a mob attack on a police station in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur, district authorities on Thursday bulldozed the home of a Muslim man who has been accused of involvement in the violence, reported The Hindu.
The mob attack reportedly occurred when a large crowd was stopped from entering the police station to file a complaint against a Hindu religious leader named Ramgiri Maharaj.
The man whose home was demolished on Thursday has been identified as Haji Shehzad Ali.
Superintendent of Police (City) Aman Mishra told The Hindu that more than 100 locations had been raided and over 50 suspects detained in connection with the mob attack on the Kotwali police station. Superintendent of Police Agam Jain said 150 persons were booked in the case.
The crowd was protesting allegedly inflammatory remarks that Ramgiri made against Prophet Mohammad and the Muslim faith while speaking at a seven-day-long event in Nashik’s Sinnar taluka last week.
A clip of the religious leader making the remarks was widely circulated online this week.
“Members of a particular community came to give a memorandum at the Kotwali police station,” Jain said in a statement. “They were assured that time but some miscreants turned to stone-pelting which was brought under control by the police.”
Videos of the incident show the police firing tear gas shells to disperse the mob, reported The Hindu.
Ramgiri is reportedly facing several police complaints in Maharashtra, including in Thane and Pune districts, for allegedly inflammatory speech.
Among other charges, the religious leader has been booked for uttering words with intent to wound religious feelings, under Section 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and provocation with intent to cause riot under Section 192.
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