Sambhal masjid committee chairperson arrested for ‘incendiary role’ in November violence

Zafar Ali, chairman of the managing committee of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, was on Sunday arrested for allegedly inciting a mob during communal violence that broke out in the region on November 24 during a court-ordered a survey of the masjid to determine whether a Hindu temple had existed in its place, reported The Indian Express.

Five persons were killed in the clashes. A few days after the violence, Zafar Ali claimed at a press conference that four persons had died in police firing.

“We had gathered evidence that he played an incendiary role during the violence last year,” Sambhal Superintendent of Police Krishna Kumar was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “He was picked up by the police from his house in Sambhal Sunday morning and was interrogated at Kotwali police station by senior cops before being finally arrested.”

Zafar Ali had been detained on November 25 but was released after interrogation.

“Ali had been on the radar of the Sambhal police since November 24, and that was why we picked him up for interrogation last year,” said Sambhal Additional Superintendent of Police Shirish Chand. “But for lack of proper evidence, we had to release him, and since then we had been gathering more clinching evidence, and today...

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