In a shocking incident, a Muslim mob resorted to stone-pelting against Hindu devotees, who were taking out a procession to a local temple to replace the broken Hanuman idol. The incident took place at Vishnoiwala village of Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. Seven people have been injured in the violent attack.

According to the reports, about three months ago, the idol of Hanuman at a temple near Krutonangali Marg was broken by some anti-social elements. However, the villagers had not complained about the incident then.

On Tuesday, the villagers of Vishnoiwala had arranged for a procession carrying the new Hanuman idol to the temple premises. Hundreds of devotees of Vishnoiwala led by Anil Kumar, Samar Singh, Mukesh Kumar were on their way to install the idol at the old temple.

According to the reports, a Muslim mob led by Shakeel, Salim, Tahir and many others allegedly blocked the Hindu devotees and objected to the installation of new idol. However, the Hindu devotees proceeded after explaining to them. The Muslim mob were allegedly upset over the procession and began to pelt stones at Hindus, injuring at least seven devotees, including Mangal, Yashveer Singh, Bhudev Singh, Satish Kumar, Narendra Kumar. During the attack, the statue was also damaged.

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The police officials reached the spot immediately on receiving the information. Inspector Sanjay Kumar and CO Nagina Archana Singh reached the spot to calm down the situation. Soon, BJP leader Anoop Valmiki and Hindu Yuva Vahini also reached the spot along with his supporters. The Hindu organizations and villagers expressed strong opposition to the incident.

Reportedly, the police also brought the new idol with the help of villagers and assured that it will be installed.

The police soon began their search to nab the culprits. However, the Muslim mob which had pelted stones escaped fearing arrest. The police have registered a case against 18 people and also taken 10 people, including three women into the custody.

Sagir Ahmed, Naeem, Saddik Ahmed, Riaz Ahmed, Irfan Ahmed, Asghar, Shabana, Naima and Shama have been identified as the arrested in the stone-pelting case.

Shockingly, as per the Jagran report, the police investigation has found that the stone pelting was planned beforehand. Heaps of stones and bricks were found stored in rooftops of the people in the area.

In April, a group of Muslim men had reportedly shot at three Dalit men over an argument between the two groups. In July this year, the Uttar Pradesh Police had recovered a huge cache of illegal weapons from a madarsa in Bijnor. The police had said that they had received information that some anti-social elements visited the madarsa regularly.

In an earlier incident, two Muslim youths were arrested in August by the UP Police after they vandalised the Goddess Bhavani idol in Bijnor after entering temple pretending to be Hindus.