Investigating 12 cases related to the violence in Sambhal last year, a special investigation team (SIT) was likely to soon file the charge sheet in the cases registered on November 24 with the deadline approaching, said senior police officials on Tuesday.
The Sambhal police’s SIT, which comprises around three dozen police personnel, was formed to probe the 12 cases, including four concerning the deaths of four persons in the violence.
The team will be completing its 60 days of investigation of the cases on January 24.
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Provisions under the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) entrust that a charge sheet in a criminal case must be filed within a prescribed period of 60-90 days. Otherwise, an arrest is illegal, and the accused is entitled to get bail.
“We are preparing to file charge sheet in most of the cases within the given deadline as per the provisions of the BNSS. The charge sheet in cases registered on November 24 will be filed before the completion of two months on January 24,” said Sambhal additional superintendent of police (ASP)-North Srish Chandra.
He said the strength of the SIT had also been increased to complete the investigation and file the charge sheet within the prescribed timeframe.
He told media persons that, so far, 58 accused, six of whom are women, had been arrested in connection with the 12 cases.
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Also, at least 85 more accused were identified with the help of pictures and CCTV footage of the violence, but they were still at large.
The inspector in charge of Sambhal police station, Anuj Tomar earlier said the police had moved to a local court to procure non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against people whose involvement was ascertained through pictures and videos of the violence.
These people, however, were missing since the incident, and were suspected to be living in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Rajasthan to evade arrest, he added.
He said one of the 58 people arrested was Mohd Adnan, who is a resident of the Deepasarai locality of Sambhal. Adnan was arrested from Delhi’s Batla House where he was living in a rented accommodation.
He was accused of opening fire with an illegal firearm on Sambhal SP Krishna Kumar Bishnoi during the violence.
On November 24, violence broke out when lawyer Ramesh Raghav, who was appointed as court commissioner by the court of civil judges (senior division) of Sambhal days ago on November 19, carried out the second round of the survey of the Shahi Mosque following a petition by Supreme Court lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain claiming that the Mughal-era-mosque was a Hindu temple.
The violence claimed four lives and left several people, including 28 police personnel, injured.
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The Hindu petitioners claimed that the temple was demolished to build the mosque, and wanted worshipping rights at the complex, which was opposed by the Muslim side. The Hindu side maintained that the mosque premises housed two banyan trees and a well. Banyan trees are worshipped by Hindus.
The Shahi mosque is believed to have been constructed around the 16th century by Mir Hindu Beg, a Mughal general, and is an important religious and historical site for the Muslim community in the region.
It is located in the heart of the city in Mohalla Kot Purvi. Also, the mosque is a protected monument and was notified on December 22, 1920, under Section 3, sub-section (3) of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904.
It figures on the ASI’s website (Moradabad division) in the list of centrally protected monuments.
