Man held for setting eight shops on fire at Nagni Mata temple

The Nurpur police arrested Manoj Kumar of Nagni last night for allegedly setting eight shops at the Nagni Mata temple on fire on Sunday night. The affected vendors were earning their livelihood from rented shops on the temple premises for many years.

The shopkeepers became suspicious about Manoj’s movements after reviewing the footage of CCTV cameras installed on the temple premises. They approached the Nurpur police with circumstantial evidence against him last evening. After verifying the evidence, the police arrested Manoj.

Nurpur SP Ashok Ratan said that following a complaint lodged by one of the victims, Girdhari Lal, an FIR was registered against Manoj Kumar under Section 326(G) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). He was today produced in court, which remanded him in police remand for two days.

The accused had been pressuring Jagdev Katoch, the owner of the burnt shops, to rent all of hem to him. When Jagdev refused, Manoj allegedly threatened him of dire consequences. The police also seized the matchbox Manoj had used to set the shops ablaze.