As the Durga Temple vandalism incident that took place in Delhi’s Chandi Chowk area on the night of June 30 enters its third day, the Delhi police have nabbed four persons so far associated with the case.
Two of the arrested youths have been identified as Mohammad Zubair and Mohammad Anus, while another one is a minor. While these three were arrested yesterday, a fourth person was arrested today but has not been identified yet.
One of the two arrested has a past criminal record and was earlier also arrested in snatching and Arms Act cases. The investigation into the case has revealed that the persons apprehended were protesting along with locals on Sunday. Police apprehended them from their homes on Tuesday.
A Delhi Police official confirmed the arrests but declined to divulge further details. Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik met union Home Minister Amit Shah to brief him about the situation in Chandi Chowk after the incident. Patnaik was summoned by Shah today morning. According to reports, the Home Minister reprimanded the Police Commissioner over the incident of temple vandalism.
On Tuesday evening, in the presence of Delhi police, people from the two communities (Hindu and Muslim) held discussions on ways to defuse the tension which persisted in the area over the incident of temple vandalism.
Aarti and puja once again commenced in the Durga Mata Mandir on Wednesday.
The Durga Mata Mandir in Lal Kuan in Chandni Chowk area in Delhi was vandalised on the night of June 30, 2019, by a mob of 300-400 people. According to videos posted on social media by locals, at around 12 am, the Durga Mandir was attacked, the idols present inside the shrine were desecrated by 300-400 people belonging to the Muslim community. Along with the temple, the houses belonging to Hindus in the neighbourhood were also targeted by the mob, the locals alleged.
According to police sources, this was triggered by a skirmish caused by an argument over parking. When the argument over parking in the area became intense, some people started pelting stones. Later in the night a mob entered the temple and vandalised it. The police have confirmed that Muslim youths in the area attacked the temple.
The next day in a video shared by Pradip Bhandari, CEO of Jan Ki Baat, one witness had stated that few intoxicated Muslim men had gathered under their house. As people around the temple stopped them, they brought in more than 300-400 men to attack. He further alleged that Imran Hussain (AAP MLA) came and supported the Muslim mob but no one came in their support.
While Congress leader and Delhi municipal councillor Yasmin Kidwai had chosen to overlook the crimes allegedly committed by a Muslim mob and attempted to whitewash the desecration of a temple in Hauz Kazi, Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi by stating that there was no attack on the temple, Union Minister and Chandni Chowk MP Dr Harshvardhan who visited the site yesterday condemned the incident and directed the Delhi police to take stringent actions against the miscreants who desecrated the Durga temple.
He had taken to Twitter to express his agony and anger over the incident and had assured that the miscreants would not be spared. After the Union Minister’s stern directions the Delhi police had assured, yesterday, that the perpetrators would be caught in the next few hours.
However, what is surprising is that, though the tension prevailing over the temple vandalisation moves into its third day, the Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal is yet to come out and make any statement. He has until now, maintained a stoic silence over the Chandni Chowk temple desecrating incident.
