Uttar Pradesh Police arrests 6 more in Shrvasti iftar party case; total arrests now stand at 10

Shravasti (UP): Police have arrested six more people in connection with allegedly cooking non-vegetarian food and disposing of the leftovers during an iftar party near the Sonpathri Ashram Temple here, taking the total arrests to 10, officials said on Tuesday.

Four people were arrested in the case on Friday.

According to police, on March 17, in the Sirsia area, certain people of the Muslim community cooked non-vegetarian food for an iftar party near the temple, situated in the forest.

After the party, the non-vegetarian food leftovers were discarded into the water source (a canal) flowing near the temple, they said.

“Devotees visiting the temple use the water from this source for drinking, cooking, and washing the temple premises and the idols of the deities. Through this act, the individuals from the Muslim community have hurt the religious sentiments of the devotees visiting the Ashram,” police said in a statement. Based on a written complaint filed by the Ashram's priest, Hari Sharnanand Ji Maharaj, a case was registered at the Sirsia police station on March 19 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 196(2) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), it said.

The statement further said that on March 19, an official from the forest department submitted a written report to the police stating that the accused had illegally lit a fire within the forest, creating a risk of forest fire and causing harm to the wildlife inhabiting the area.

Subsequently, another case was registered against all of them under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.

The six people arrested on Tuesday have been identified as Jamal Ahmed, Irfan Ahmed, and Sufiyan -- from Shravasti district, and Shakir, Sheru Ahmed, and Shamsad Ali -- residents of Bahraich district.