JAIPUR

01 April 2020 13:37 IST

About 100 people gathered to observe ‘Urs’ of Sufi mystic Khwaja Fakhruddin Chishti at Sarwar town in Ajmer district

About 100 devotees, who defied the lockdown restrictions and gathered for observing ‘Urs’ (death anniversary) at a dargah in Sarwar town of Rajasthan’s Ajmer district, were dispersed by the police with the use of mild force. The six-day ‘Urs’ of Sufi mystic Khwaja Fakhruddin Chishti at the dargah ended on Wednesday.

Though the police had given permission to five persons from the world-famous dargah in Ajmer for offering a ‘chadar’ (sacred cloth) at the Sarwar dargah, several others joined them in the ritual. When the police asked them to vacate the dargah premises, they allegedly objected and confronted the police.

According to the police sources, five persons were arrested under Section 151 (arrest to prevent cognisable offences) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

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Imran Tanwar, a Congress leader in Sarwar, said the ‘Urs’ had been observed with the necessary rituals by the dargah's workers in the absence of the pilgrims who come every year from different parts of Rajasthan and other States. The devotees, who gathered at the shrine, wanted to join the offering of ‘chadar’ in violation of the orders banning the assembly of people.

The dargah, built near a pond in Sarwar — 60 km away from Ajmer — has the tomb of Khwaja Fakhruddin, who was the eldest son of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer. The Sufi saint, who had adopted agriculture as his profession, died in 1265 A.D.