As of yesterday night, nine people have been arrested in connection with the desecration of the Durga Mandi in Hauz Qazi in Delhi’s Chandi Chowk area. Out of them, four have been identified as juveniles. The age of one of them is still being verified.
Delhi: Nine people, including 4 juveniles, have been arrested in connection with #HauzQazi incident in which a temple was vandalised on June 30. The age of one accused is being verified.
— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2019
It was earlier reported that four people had been arrested, two of them had been identified as Mohammad Zubair and Mohammad Anus.
On the night of June 30, 2019, a mob of 300-400 men barged into Durga Mata Mandir in Lal Kuan in Chandni Chowk area and had desecrated idols present inside the shrine. Locals had posted videos of the temple on social media which showed that the Muslim mob entered the temple and began to thrash Hindus residing in the neighbourhood.
Police sources have said that 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.
Union Minister and Chandni Chowk MP Dr Harshvardhan visited the site where Durga temple was desecrated. He had condemned the incident and had called for peace. The Minister had also directed the Delhi police to take stringent actions against the miscreants.
Locals have also claimed to have witnessed AAP MLA Imran Hussain on the night that the temple was desecrated. They claim that he made no attempt to stop the violence. Former Union minister Vijay Goel had also accused Imran Hussain of being involved in the attacks. “Involvement of Imran Hussain in the attack on temple raises several questions,” he said in a press statement while raising questions on the Delhi CM’s silence on this issue.
