Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli police have booked five people including village pradhans allegedly for torching the house of a Muslim man who underwent a religious conversion in September last year and embraced Hinduism.
There is no injury or loss of life but the front portion of the house was destroyed during the incident. The local authorities have deployed police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) in the area.
38-year old labourer, Dev Prakash Patel who was earlier known by the name Mohammed Anwar has accused five people of rioting and criminal intimidation as they set his house on fire. The incident took place in Ataganj Rataso village in Raebareli’s Salon police station area.
Dev Prakash has also renamed his children as Devnath (5), Deendayal (4), and Durga (3). As per the police, he had married four times but living with his children as his first wife died and other marriages didn’t work.
He registered an FIR in which he has accused the former village pradhan Mohammed Tahir and his associates stating that they were upset with his religious conversion.
“On Saturday afternoon, I was sleeping with my children when a fire broke out in my house. Residents of the area raised an alarm and asked us to vacate the house. I rushed out with my children and spotted Tahir and his brother Rehan setting my house on fire,” told Dev Prakash.
While Police superintendent Shlok Kumar has pointed out the land dispute angle of the case too. “Preliminary probe suggests that Prakash and Tahir also had a dispute over a piece of land. We are probing the case from all angles. Tahir and his brother have been detained and are being detained,” said SP Shlok Kumar.
