By IANS,
Patna : A man has been arrested for having allegedly dug out the body of a Muslim from his grave and throwing it on a pile of garbage in Bihar’s Rohtas district with the apparent intention of creating communal tension, police said Tuesday.
Rohtas district Superintendent of Police Vikas Vaibhav said Dilip Mahto was arrested and sent to jail Monday evening.
Earlier this month, police had arrested another man, Birju Mahto, for his involvement in the incident that triggered tension in Sasaram town, about 200 km from here, earlier this month.
Dilip was nabbed on the information provided by Birju. Another accused in the case, Murari Mahto, is absconding.
Local Muslims were shocked when they found that the body of Haji Maksud Alam, a resident of Sabzi Sarai Mohalla, had been dug out from his grave and thrown on a pile of garbage two days after he was buried.
As the news spread, hundreds of Muslims, mostly youth, gathered at the graveyard and expressed their anger, shouting slogans and pelting stones. Later, Alam’s body was buried again in the three-century-old graveyard, situated within the premises of the 16th-century tomb of Sher Shah Suri, under police protection.
According to Alam’s family members, they had been warned by some people, known to be connected with Hindu outfits, not to bury him in the graveyard and strongly suspected that these people were behind the incident.
The incident had angered Muslims in the communally sensitive town as they saw it as a deliberate attempt by Hindu outfits to create controversy. They have demanded action against those behind the incident and adequate security around the graveyard.
“We cannot say anything now since the probe is on but the possibility of involvement of Hindu groups cannot be ruled out,” a police official said.