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Kerala Kaumudi Online
Friday, 29 March 2024 6.59 AM IST

Jaish operative arrested in Delhi with saffron clothes, was planning to kill Dasna priest Yati Narsinghanand

pulwama-

NEW DELHI: A resident of Pulwama has been arrested in Delhi for allegedly planning to kill controversial priest Swami Yati Narsinghanand on behalf of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. The accused, identified as Jan Mohammed Dar, was arrested from a hotel in Paharganj on Sunday.

According to Delhi Police, the items recovered from his possession indicate that Jan Mohammed Dar was planning to dress up like a Hindu priest to assassinate Dasna Devi temple priest Swami Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, who had recently made controversial comments against Prophet Mohammed.

The Delhi Police recovered a saffron kurta, a white pyjama, a kalava (holy thread), a string of beads, sandalwood paste and a box of Kumkum (vermillion) along with a .30 bore pistol and two magazines containing 15 live rounds.

During the preliminary interrogation, Jan Mohammed Dar revealed that he was tasked with killing the priest by the terror outfit, the police said.

HOW THE MURDER WAS PLANNED

A carpenter by profession, Jan Mohammed Dar had reportedly come in contact with Jaish-e-Mohammed operative Abid in December 2020. Abid, who operated from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, motivated Dar to work for the terror outfit and maintained contact with him via Whatsapp, the police said. On April 2, 2021, Abid met Dar in Anantnag and reportedly tasked him with killing Swami Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati. He also showed him the priest’s videos that had gone viral for their controversial content, the police said.

According to Dar’s statement to the police, Abid then gave him a pistol and taught him how to use it. Dar was promised a substantial sum of money for killing the priest, the police said. He was also given Rs 6,500 cash and Rs 35,000 in his bank account before leaving for Delhi, it said.

On April 23, Dar left for Delhi, where he met Abid’s contact Umar.

The police said that Umar took Dar to one of his hideouts for three days and later shifted him to a hotel in Pahar Ganj. According to the police, Umar brought the puja items and Bhagwa dress as a cover to gain entry into the temple. Further, Dar and Umar received an arms consignment from another person on the flyover near his hotel, the police said.

Dar has been previously arrested for stone-pelting during protests in Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of Burhan Wani’s death in 2016.

WHO IS YATI NARSINGHANAND AND WHAT DID HE SAY?

Swami Yati Narsinghanand is the head priest of Dasna Devi Temple in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. He first hit the headlines in March when a 14-year-old Muslim boy was assaulted by the priest’s disciple for trying to entering the temple premises.

The temple has a banned at the gate that reads: “Ye mandir Hinduon ka pavitra sthal hai, yahan Musalmanon ka pravesh varjit hai (This temple is a holy place for Hindus, Muslims’ entry is forbidden)”.

A month later, Yati Narsinghanand allegedly made inflammatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed and Islam while addressing a press conference organised by Akhil Bharatiya Sant Parishad (Ghaziabad) at the Press Club of India in New Delhi.

In the video of the event, which went viral, Narsinghanand can be heard saying, “If Muslims come to know about Mohammed’s reality, they will be ashamed to call themselves Muslims.”

The remarks created an uproar among Muslim communities in India. One man in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut even offered to pay Rs 51 lakh for beheading the priest. The man was later arrested by the UP Police.

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TAGS: JAISH OPERATIVE, DELHI, NABBED, SWAMI YATI NARSINGHANAND, PULWAMA, JAN MOHAMMED DAR
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