IIT graduate Ahmed Murtuza Abbasi was sent to judicial custody for 14 days for attacking two PAC constables with a sharp-edged weapon at the Gorakhnath temple, of which UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath is the head priest, the court has given police one week remand of the accused.
Murtaza Abbasi, 29, has been captured in mobile videos, waving a sickle outside the Gorakhnath shrine and attacking police officers who tried to stop him. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, spoke with the injured police officers in the hospital and saw the crime scene.
Murtaza has been charged by the Uttar Pradesh police with attempting to murder and inciting religious hatred. The police described the incident as a terror attack, adding that their probe would focus on the possibility of a bigger conspiracy.
On Sunday, a video of the attack at the gate of the temple in Gorakhpur went viral on social media. Gopal Gaud and Anil Paswan, personnel of the 20th Battalion of PAC, were at the main gate when Abbasi, with a bag in his hand, got into a scuffle with them. Suddenly, he took out a sharp weapon wrapped in a cloth from his bag and attacked and injured the jawans, according to onlookers and the personnel. Abbasi’s family has claimed he is mentally unstable and looking at the hate spewed against Muslims, the guy was carrying a knife in his bag. When he saw cops approaching him, he thought they were going to frame him.
It is also suspected that accused Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi was influenced by Zakir Naik. The accused’s laptop has revealed that he was ‘influenced by Zakir Naik’s ideas’. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrived in Mumbai to probe the Gorakhnath temple attack case.
