The Hindu : National : Former Minister's son held in mosque desecration case

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Friday, Jan 19, 2007
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National

Former Minister's son held in mosque desecration case

Shujaat Bukhari

He is mentally ill, a drug addict: police

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SRINAGAR: The Anantnag police on Thursday solved the mosque desecration case in Chandervan, in the Shangus area here that had resulted in public anger. Gowhar Maqbool son of Maqbool Dar, a former Union Minister of State for Home, during the Deve Gowda government, was arrested after intense investigation.

Police said that he was mentally ill and a drug addict. While the fire was perceived to be accidental, villagers were outraged when they found copies of the holy Koran thrown into a urinal the following day. Thousands of residents of Chandervan and adjoining villages took to the streets and demanded that the culprits be exposed.

Another incident took place on January 6, when the coir matting of a masjid in the Vakhil Balan village of Shangus was set on fire. Police filed an FIR under sections 295, 436 of the RPC in the Achabal police station.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Anantnag, Abdul Gani Mir said that 120 persons were detained and questioned. "The investigation team finally zeroed in on Gowher Maqbool Dar, resident of Nowgam in the Shangus area."

An investigation team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police Headquarters in Anantnag, Saif-ud-Din Shah, found that Gowhar was not only responsible for the reported incidents but had also tried to forcibly open a shop at Chandervan, before trying to set the mosques on fire. He had also looted some crackers, sweets, biscuits and cigarettes from the shop, police said.

The culprit had stolen a wooden chest from a local shrine and thrown the Holy Koran, stolen from the Jamia Masjid Shangus, in a drain at Nowgam and also attempted to set on fire a mosque at Somran Nowgam.

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