Two Muslims, including a mosque imam, were stabbed and injured on their way to the mosque in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh by a group of five Hindu men on Sunday.
Police have arrested five people, including four minors. Raja Rathore has been named as the mastermind, a police official said on Monday.
The Islamophobic incident occurred late Sunday night, and imam Sheikh Uzefa and twenty-year-old Muslim youth Mohammad Talha have been hospitalised in nearby Indore, a native said to Maktoob over the phone.
The assailants threw chili powder in the imam’s eyes and stabbed him in the chest. While running away, the men also stabbed Talha in the chest.
“I was on my bike to the mosque to lead the prayers. There were 4 to 5 boys. They took their knives. I didn’t see them taking the knife out. They just took it out and stabbed me. I didn’t realise it,” the imam said.
Following the incident, dozens of Muslims gathered outside the hospital and near the Padam Nagar police station, he said.
“Uzefa is in stable condition while Talha is out of danger. Both were injured near the chest,” Khandwa Superintendent of Police Vivek Singh told PTI news agency.
