Hyderabad: In an act that could have led to communal tension, a man named Amit Kumar, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, tied lemons to the wall of the Masjid–e-Nazaria at Patigadda, Begumpet and also left a palm print (in red color).
The police team located the man within four hours, while he was digging a pit at a temple.
“With the things we found in the bag he was carrying, we could pin him with the offence and pulled him in for questioning. He was only responding to direct questions and was not able to comprehend properly otherwise,” added the policeman, believing this was no planned conspiracy.
Based on a complaint, cases were booked under Section 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and carrying out acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505-C (with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community) of the IPC and placed him under arrest.
When asked about whether there was a missing complaint from his family in Uttar Pradesh, in the context of his claim that he landed here ‘by mistake’, the police said that they took his fingerprints and ran it with the CCRB (City Crime Records Bureau) to check about missing persons but nothing came up.
“We will be running his prints in the national database on Wednesday. The case is still under investigation as we are not able to detect the motives behind the actions,” concluded the officials.
Meanwhile, Telangana home minister Mehmood Ali took serious note of the incident.
He told Deccan Chronicle, “These kinds of acts by a mentally unstable or even a stable person will not be tolerated in Telangana. The vigilance of the people and police has helped us nab this culprit and the investigation going to be carried out to ascertain the facts.
The government is committed to maintaining harmony and peace in the state. The smallest of temples, dargah and masjid will be protected in the city and state. The police cameras are helping us to identify the culprits and sensitive areas are going to be further strengthened to ensure that there are no untoward incidents.”
Apparently a stranger to the city, he then proceeded to a temple at Rasoolpura and began digging but was arrested even before he completed the task.
According to the Begumpet Police, the man, currently in custody, said that his name was Amit Kumar. Police said he was about 25-30 years old.
He claimed that he intended to go to Surat but ended up in Secunderabad via train, police said.
Kumar reportedly first visited the Masjid–e- Nazaria located on the left of the Spanish Mosque. He then went to a temple at Rasoolpura and began digging, the reason for which is still unknown.
The Begumpet Police received a complaint from the administrator of the Masjid–e-Nazaria.
