Two held for stone-pelting on cops during protest against Yati Narsinghanand

Ghaziabad: Two more people were arrested on Friday for allegedly pelting stones at a police party outside the Dasna Devi temple here during a protest against priest Narsinghanand Saraswati’s remarks on Prophet Muhammad, police said.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Momin (32) and Wahid (35), police said.

Wave City police station's Station Officer (SO) Ankit Kumar said that based on precise information and CCTV footage, the police identified the accused and arrested them. The incident occurred on October 4.

"The accused have confessed to their crime of stone-pelting. They admitted that they were angry over the derogatory remarks made about Prophet Muhammad by Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, the head priest of Dasna Temple, during a programme held at Hindi Bhawan on September 29," he said.

"So far, 27 people involved in the stone-pelting incident have been arrested. The police are continuing efforts to apprehend the remaining culprits," he added.

Narsinghanand is facing multiple FIRs and protests from Muslim groups against his alleged remarks against Prophet Muhammad. He is alleged to have made the remarks during an event in violation of Section 302 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (deals with the offence of uttering words or making sounds to intentionally hurt someone's religious feelings).