Rudraprayag (Uttarakhand) [India], June 22 (ANI): Amid reports of an alleged dispute at a Gurdwara in Nagrasu, Rudraprayag District Magistrate (DM) Vishal Mishra on Monday urged people not to pay heed to rumours claiming that the Gurdwara had been taken over or that a hostage situation had arisen there. However, he acknowledged that a dispute occured inside the Gurdwara.
He said that the Gurdwara’s management committee was functioning peacefully now.
“A dispute erupted at a Gurdwara in Nagrasu between Nihang Sikhs, the Gurdwara management and the Sikh sevadars who live there. The Ardaas, Langar and prayers at the Gurdwara are all running smoothly and peacefully. The movement of people through the Gurdwara is also continuing normally. No one is facing any problems,” DM Mishra told ANI.
“Don’t pay attention to rumours that the Gurdwara has been taken over, that someone has been taken hostage, or that any violence has occurred. No such incident has taken place. The Gurdwara’s management committee is operating in a completely peaceful environment. There are no problems of any kind,” he added.
However, Baba Beant Singh, granthi of Gurdwara Nagrasu, tasked to manage the Gurdwara, alleged that a group of individuals who had been provided shelter and food at the Gurdwara turned violent, assaulted volunteers, vandalised the premises and hurled stones at police personnel and locals from the upper floors of the Gurdwara.
The concerned individuals arrived at the Gurdwara on June 20 and allegedly created trouble from the outset by fighting and misbehaving with volunteers. Despite the alleged altercation, the Gurdwara authorities allowed them to stay overnight and arranged food for them, he said.
“They came here the day before yesterday and started fighting. They started beating and abusing the volunteers. Even then, we let them stay overnight and provided them with food. They started fighting with us again the next morning. Still, we tried to reason with them and make them leave,” Singh alleged.
He informed that the situation escalated on the morning of June 21 when the group again got into an altercation with the volunteers. He said the Gurdwara management attempted to persuade them to leave peacefully.
“When we were leaving, they saw the police outside. They thought they were there to arrest them because they had been up to nefarious activities. So they went straight up to the fifth floor. They took over the place, broke the walls, and started throwing stones at us, the police, the people outside and the shopkeepers. We have covered this incident with our drones,” he added.
Singh further alleged that they cut off the water supply to the Gurdwara premises, damaged all solar panels installed on the building and continued vandalising the property throughout the night.
“They haven’t taken food from us, saying that they doubt that we would poison their food. They’ve cut off our water supply. They’ve destroyed the entire building’s solar panels. They’ve been vandalising all night. They’ve caused us losses worth lakhs,” Singh alleged.
As this happened, the Uttarakhand government suspended the internet in the area from Saturday night until Sunday afternoon. The situation is currently normal. (ANI)
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