The four accused, police said, went to the Masjid in a gypsy vehicle belonging to Pawan. Of them all, Vinod was carrying a pistol. The four accused, police said, went to the Masjid in a gypsy vehicle belonging to Pawan. Of them all, Vinod was carrying a pistol.

Four persons were arrested by Gurgaon Police on Monday for firing at a mosque in Dhankot village. According to police, the accused revealed they were troubled by news about several coronavirus cases being tracked to the Tablighi Jamaat gathering at Nizamuddin, and had gone to check the Dhankot mosque and ensure nobody was hiding there.

The accused have been identified as Vinod (40), Pawan (41), Aalam Khan (39), and Harkesh (18). While the former two are residents of Basai village in Gurgaon, Khan is a resident of Devilal Colony and Harkesh hails from Uttar Pradesh.

“During questioning, it emerged that the four accused were, on Saturday, talking about the coronavirus issue in India, and were troubled by the news emerging regarding it, and regarding the coronavirus patients caught at the Nizamuddin Markaj,” said Subhash Boken, PRO of Gurgaon Police.

“A few days prior also, they had heard through social media that some 6 people had been similarly caught at the Masjid in Dankot village. They were angered by this information and made a plan to go to the Masjid and check its premises to ensure no other Coronavirus infected person was hiding inside it,” he said.

The four accused, police said, went to the Masjid in a gypsy vehicle belonging to Pawan. Of them all, Vinod was carrying a pistol.

“They reached in from of the Masjid and tried to open the gate but, when it did not open, Vinod took the pistol in his hand and fired one shot towards the Masjid and another in the other direction,” said the PRO, adding that both the pistol and the vehicle they used in the crime have been seized.

The incident had come to light on Saturday morning, when the Imaam sleeping on the terrace of the Masjid, Shahid, woke up to discover a crowd below the structure. Although technically the Imaam at the Masjid in Kherki Majra, he had been taking care of the Masjid at Dhankot for the last two days, in the absence of Khalid, the Imaam actually residing there, who had gone home for a few days.

In his complaint to police, Shahid claimed that Khalid had called him on Sunday morning, and told him that he had been receiving phone calls from residents all morning, alleging someone had shot at the mosque.

It was upon going down that Shahid discovered an empty cartridge outside the mosque, and a hole in the structure’s wall. An FIR was subsequently registered in the case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Arms Act.

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