Thousands of devotees, Islamic scholars and preachers, had assembled in Bulandshahr city on Sunday to attend the final day of 'Tablighi Ijtema', a three-day Islamic congregation that commenced on December 1.
Giving rise to fears of communal riots before 2019 Lok Sabha elections, violence erupted in Bulandshahr, about 80 kilometre from Delhi, over alleged rumours of cow slaughter, killing a police officer and a youth.
Following the incident, UP authorities deployed a huge police contingent in Bulandshahr and sent ADG Zone and IG Range to the spot from Meerut.
Ironically, in the morning, the city resonated with Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb of communal harmony when a pujari allowed Muslim devotees stuck in traffic jam to offer namaaz inside a Shiv Temple.
Thousands of devotees, Islamic scholars and preachers, had assembled in Bulandshahr city on Sunday to attend the final day of 'Tablighi Ijtema', a three-day Islamic congregation that commenced on December 1.
Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh died after he was shot in the head during stone pelting. He had rushed to tackle the mob that had attacked a police station and set a police van on fire. A video showed Inspector Singh being shot by a person in the mob, wielding a country-made revolver.
Authorities said the postmortem report confirmed that the bullet entered from under the left eye and was lodged in the skull of Inspector Singh. He was rushed to the Aurangabad community health centre (CHC) where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Singh was the investigating officer in the Mohammad Akhlaq lynching case in Dadri and was instrumental in getting the meat samples to the forensic lab in time. Later, he was transferred to Varanasi in the middle of the investigation.
According to reports, members of several Hindu groups with an alleged cow carcass gathered at the Bulandshahr-Syana road demanding action. The police reached the spot and tried to pacify the crowd that soon turned violent and started pelting stones at the police personnel.
Activists of Hindu Yuva Vahini and Bajrang Dal vandalised and torched several passing vehicles and attacked police officials.
The police said they had to open fire in self-defence to save themselves from the frenzied mob.
ADG (law & order), Anand, Kumar confirmed the death of a local youth too. "A local, Sumit, also got shot and was shifted to a hospital in Meerut where he succumbed to his injuries. A probe is underway to find out who shot him," he said.
Paradise Lost
In the morning, the city resonated with communal harmony when a pujari allowed Muslim devotees stuck in traffic jam to offer namaaz inside a Shiv Temple.
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