Two More Held In Mosque Arson Case

The City Police on Wednesday arrested two more persons who were allegedly involved in an arson case of Jamia Masjid at Chintal Bazar in Bollaram.

According to police, on December 2, a complaint was lodged by Jamia Masjid Committee’s president Nazeer Khan stating that some unknown persons had set fire to the main door of the Chintal Bazar mosque using diesel. The police began the investigation after registering a case.

During the course of investigation, the accused S. Madan and KM Uday Kumar, both residents of Chintal Bazar had been arrested on the same day, and remanded to Judicial custody. While the investigation was on, on receipt of credible information, the Bollaram police arrested two more accused Vuniyala Sandeep Kumar and Yarlagadda Bharat Kumar alias Nani.

According to police, the main cause of the incident was a dispute between the two groups on the ownership of the land beside Jamia Mosque for erecting an electric transformer. While one group claims that the land is a Wakf property, the other group claims that the land belongs to the Cantonment Board. Taking advantage of recent communal disturbances in the Old City, the accused hatched a plan and burnt the main door of Chintal Bazar Mosque in order to provoke communal tension in the area and to obtain possession of said land, police said.

The case is being investigated by a team led by Bollaram Inspector T Laxminarayana. North Zone DCP Ch Srikanth congratulated the Inspector and his team for detecting the case within 24 hours. (INN)