BAREILLY: A 500-page chargesheet was Thursday filed by the SIT in cases involving the alleged murder of Mohd Bilal and Ayan, two of the five men killed in violence during a court-directed survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on Nov 24, 2024.
An SIT officer in Sambhal, requesting anonymity, said Friday that the chargesheet in the “two murder cases” was submitted to the local court on Thursday evening, and “chargesheets in two other cases will be filed soon”. Police had already filed chargesheets related to stone pelting and mob attack, and this was the “first chargesheet” filed in connection to the deaths in the violence. Several police personnel were also injured at that time.
Ghulam Shah and Mulla Afroz – both local residents with a criminal past and purported links with Dubai-based fugitive Shariq Satha – have been charged with the alleged murders of Bilal and Ayan along with “inciting others to create violence”. After their arrest, police said a large quantity of weapons and other suspicious items were seized.
During investigation, the name of Satha, one of the alleged masterminds, cropped up. He was purportedly found to have orchestrated the unrest via local aides, and “supplied the weapons”.
The probe also revealed that Shah and Afroz allegedly fired with illegal weapons upon the crowd on Nov 24. The duo is believed to have said during interrogation that the supply of weapons was carried out at the behest of Satha, who was “providing instructions from the UAE”.
Police have registered seven FIRs for “violence”. The victim’s kin have lodged four more FIRs against unidentified persons for the “killings”. Another FIR was filed by an injured person against unidentified suspects of Turkic descent in Moradabad for “attempt to murder”. All 12 FIRs are under SIT investigation. Police also recovered bullets reportedly manufactured in Pakistan and the US, suggesting “external links”.
Among the 12 FIRs, 37 accused have been named, including SP MP Ziaur Rahman Barq and MLA Iqbal Mahmood’s son Suhail. In addition, around 3,750 unidentified individuals are accused in multiple cases, and according to police, over 80 people have been arrested so far.
