NEW DELHI: Vishnu Shankar Jain, the petitioner in the Sambhal mosque case, claimed on Wednesday that a “false allegation” has been levelled against him that he led the mob and raised the “Jai Shree Ram” slogan, leading to a riot after the court-mandated survey.
The senior advocate accused Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, Asaduddin Owaisi, SP Sambhal MP, the party’s media cell and the secretary of Gyanvyapi Mosque committee of “spreading misinformation”.
“Akhilesh Yadav, Owaisi, Samajwadi Party’s MP of Sambhal, media cell of SP, secretary of Gyanvyapi Mosque committee – all these people have spread misinformation that I went there with a mob raising the slogan of Jai Shree Ram and that caused the riots there. It’s a false allegation… I went there with the administration and all the concerned officials and people,” Vishan Jain told news agency ANI.
Jain claimed that slogans were raised but only when he, after the survey, was being escorted out through a Hindu-majority area, where people raised the chants after seeing him.
“When the survey ended, the police escorted me from the so-called disputed area, in the way where the Hindu population live, there was stone pelting going on and after seeing me, people raised the slogan of Jai Shree Ram. I didn’t raise the slogan. The threats that I am getting – these five people are responsible for it…,” he said.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Police has released photographs of the accused in the stone pelting incident in Sambhal.
An FIR filed by police has named Samajwadi Party’s Sambhal MP Zia-ur-Rahman Barq and MLA Iqbal Mahmood’s son Sohail Mahmood for inciting violence in the city on Sunday.
The clashes, which erupted during a court-ordered Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey at the Mughal era Jama Masjid, left five dead and many – including 20 police personnel – injured.
The FIR also accuses advocate Zafar Ali, part of the mosque’s management committee, of leaking information about the second survey to the accused lawmakers, allegedly aiding their preparations for resistance.
