Tension erupted in Santi Bastawad village of Karnataka’s Belagavi district on Monday morning after three copies of the Holy Quran and Hadith kept at a mosque were found burnt in a nearby field, prompting police to launch an investigation.
Following the incident, a large number of Muslim youth and community members staged a protest in front of police officials, demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits within two days and alleging police inaction in similar past incidents where no arrests were made.
Hundreds of people gathered and marched from Santi Bastawad to Rani Chennamma Circle, covering a distance of 8 km, shouting slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai.”
A tense situation prevailed at Chennamma Circle, prompting authorities to block roads leading to the area as a precaution. The nearly hour-long protest resulted in traffic jams on several connecting routes.
According to police, some miscreants allegedly entered an under-construction religious building on Sunday night and took away three religious books kept on the ground floor, where prayers are offered, a senior police officer said.
When people arrived for prayers on Monday morning, they noticed the books were missing and began searching for them, eventually finding the burnt copies in a field around 200 meters away, he added.
Following the incident, a peace meeting was held involving leaders from all communities, who demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits.
Belagavi Police Commissioner Iada Martin and DCP (Law and Order) Rohan Jagadish rushed to the spot and deployed heavy police bandobast to prevent the situation from escalating.
The commissioner told PTI that the Rural police station has booked a case, and teams have been formed to identify and nab the culprits.
“The CCTV camera installed on the building was removed coincidentally on the day of the incident for some repair work. An investigation into the incident is underway, and we will nab the culprits,” he added.
Earlier, communal tension had gripped Santi Bastawad on February 22, following the elopement of a Hindu girl with a Muslim youth.
