as Muslims from Santibastwad village stage a protest.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Belagavi: Tense situation prevailed at Santibastwad village in Belagavi taluk after an incident of miscreants allegedly making away with the holy books of Muslims kept in a mosque and setting it on fire came to the fore on Monday.
In the morning when people came to the under construction mosque to offer ‘Fajr Namaz’ they noticed that Quran and two Hadis were missing. After offering the prayers, as they started searching, it was noticed that they had allegedly been burnt in a land besides the mosque.
Incident led to tense situation in the village. Muslim community leaders and others staged protest in the village and demanded the arrest of those responsible for the incident.
Yusuf Mujawar said, mosque has CCTV installed and it was sent for repairs on Sunday. "Those who are aware of CCTV not being operational must have conducted the acts. We want police and government to identify those responsible for the acts and they be punished."
Police rushed to the spot and more personnel were deployed to prevent any untoward incidents.
Police Commissioner Iada Martin Marbaniang visited the village and held talks with the Muslim community leaders. He also inspected the spot.
Belagavi Rural police is probing the matter.