An alleged spelling error helped the police in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh to crack the case involving controversy over the "I love Mohammad" graffiti found on the walls of several temples in two Aligarh villages last week. Four people were arrested in connection with the case who allegedly carried out the act to falsely implicate their rivals in a land dispute case, officials said.
Aligarh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Neeraj Kumar told reporters that the arrested have been identified as Dilip Kumar, Aakash, Abhishek Saraswat, and Nishant Kumar. Another accused, Rahul, who is alleged to be one of the main conspirators, is absconding, the officer added.
Plot to implicate rivals in land dispute
According to police, the accused defaced temple walls in Bhagwanpur and Bulakigarh villages in the Lodha area last Saturday, to create a false impression of provocation and blame their opponents.
"The investigation revealed that the accused conspired to write the graffiti to falsely implicate eight individuals with whom they were locked in land disputes. They wanted to portray their rivals as responsible for inciting tension," the SSP said.
On October 25, police received information about the case and rushed to the village where a case was filed against Maulvi Mustaqeem, Gul Mohammad, Suleman, Sonu, Allabaksh, Hassan, Hamid and Yusuf.
The spelling error
However, the cops noticed a spelling error and they suspected mischief as the spelling of slogan “I love Muhammad” appeared to be different from the banners in Bareily last month that triggered tensions in several UP cities.
Police then scanned the CCTV footage, call records and used field intelligence to nab the actual culprits, The Times of India reported. Police found Dilip Kumar, Aakash, Abhishek Saraswat and Nishant Kumar involved in the conspiracy.
Police said the matter is entirely linked to two separate property disputes between four families.
"In the first case, Rahul had a long-standing property dispute with Gul Mohammad's family, which had also led to a clash last year. The second dispute was between Mustaqeem's family and that of Nishant Kumar," the SSP said.
Police have booked the accused under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and under Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment (CLA) Act.
What happened?
On October 25, the temple walls in the two villages were found defaced with "I love Mohammad" graffiti, triggering tensions in the area.
The accused then filed an FIR at the Lodha police station naming seven persons, including Mustaqeem, Gul Mohammad, and five others, accusing them of defacing the temple walls.
Police officials said that initially, the local police were hesitant to register the named FIR, but later, following pressure from a local organisation's leader, a complaint was filed under his name.
