One arrested in religious books burning case

Tribune News Service

Solan, December 11

With the arrest of a 45-year-old youth Sajid from Toka Nagla village Paonta Sahib police claim to have solved the case of burning of 40 religious texts at Maliyon based mosque.

DSP Paonta Sahib Pramod Chauhan said the said youth has been arrested on the basis of CCTV footage. He said the youth appears to be eccentric and probably nurtured a grudge against the villagers.

Chauhan added that Sajid had left his cell phone at home in a bid to avoid detection but he was seen near the Pipliwala mosque whose CCTV had been damaged on the fateful night of December 3. The police also recovered broken CCTV, DBR and other equipment like adaptor and cables from his residence.

The police also recovered 350 pages of religious texts from his possession. While the case had caused resentment among the Muslim community, the arrest of this youth has brought relief to the local administration. The youth, who used to walk alone long distances, caught the attention of the police due to his queer habits.