Over two weeks after at least four persons died in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal during protests against a survey of a mosque, the district’s superintendent of police said that the police had at the time “fired warning shots in the air”, The Indian Express reported.
On November 24, violence broke out in Sambhal after a group of Muslims objected to a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Chandausi town. A day later, Superintendent of Police Krishan Kumar Bishnoi had claimed that while an autopsy of three of those who died showed that they had suffered gunshot wounds from a .315 bore firearm, the police had only used pellet guns.
On Saturday, however, Bishnoi told The Indian Express that the police had on November 24 fired in the air to force the crowd to disperse.
In response to a question about videos showing police personnel firing during the protest, the superintendent of police said: “A police person can be seen firing in the air. We are investigating who fired two shots.”
The parents of a man named Naeem, one of those who died during the violence on that day, had claimed that he was killed police firing. However, Moradabad Divisional Commissioner Aunjaneya Kumar Singh denied the allegation.
“The death of four people after sustaining bullet injuries is part of the investigation,” he told The Indian Express. “How they were killed and who shot at them is part of our probe. Once we have the report, it will be clear.”
The divisional commissioner, referring to some police personnel sustaining injuries, allegedly due to bullet fragments, said: “Police cannot shoot at themselves… It was the responsibility of the family members to restrain their son if he was planning to throw stones.”
Singh claimed that three groups were firing at each other on the day of the violence. He added that while the police had evidence, their priority was to restore peace.
The survey of the mosque in Sambhal was ordered by a court in Sambhal in response to a suit claiming that the religious structure had been built in 1526 by Mughal ruler Babar on the site of the “centuries-old Shri Hari Har Temple dedicated to Lord Kalki”.
Thirty-two persons have been arrested for the violence during the survey, while over 400 accused persons have been identified, District Magistrate Rajender Pensiya said.
Also read: How a court order sparked a deadly dispute over a mosque in Sambhal
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