Spelling mistake helps Aligarh police crack 'I love Mohammad' temple graffiti case
According to police, the accused defaced temple walls in Bhagwanpur, Bulakigarh villages to create a false impression of provocation and shift blame onto their opponents
An alleged spelling error helped police in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh to crack a case involving controversy over the “I love Mohammad” graffiti found on the walls of several temples in two villages last week.
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Four people have been arrested for allegedly carrying out the act to falsely implicate their rivals in an ongoing land dispute, officials said.
Land feud behind temple graffiti
Aligarh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Neeraj Kumar told reporters that the arrested individuals have been identified as Dilip Kumar, Aakash, Abhishek Saraswat, and Nishant Kumar. Another accused, Rahul, believed to be one of the main conspirators, remains absconding, he added.
According to police, the accused defaced temple walls in Bhagwanpur and Bulakigarh villages in the Lodha area last Saturday (October 25) to create a false impression of provocation and shift blame onto their opponents.
“The investigation revealed that the accused conspired to write the graffiti to falsely implicate eight individuals with whom they were engaged in land disputes. They intended to portray their rivals as responsible for inciting communal tension,” the SSP said.
Spell error exposes conspiracy
On 25 October, police received information about the graffiti and rushed to the village where a case was registered against Maulvi Mustaqeem, Gul Mohammad, Suleman, Sonu, Allabaksh, Hassan, Hamid, and Yusuf.
However, police officers noticed something odd — the slogans were misspelt and appeared to be written in the same handwriting. In every instance, the word 'Muhammad' was incorrectly spelt, with versions like 'Mohmad' and 'Muhmad'. These mistakes differed from the banners displayed during protests in Bareilly a month earlier, where similar slogans had appeared. This discrepancy led investigators to suspect a deliberate attempt to frame someone. “They had written different spellings for the Prophet. They are not educated people. Somewhere they spelt it as Mohmad and Muhmad,” Station House Officer (Lodha) Ankit Kumar was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
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Police then examined CCTV footage, call records, and field intelligence, to nab the actual culprits.
The accused were eventually identified as Dilip Kumar, Aakash, Abhishek Saraswat and Nishant Kumar, who were found to be involved in the conspiracy.
False FIR filed to frame rivals
Police said the incident was linked to two separate property disputes between four families.
“In the first case, Rahul had a long-standing land dispute with Gul Mohammad’s family, which had also resulted in a clash last year. The second dispute was between Mustaqeem’s family and that of Nishant Kumar,” the SSP explained.
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The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and under Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment (CLA) Act.
On 25 October, temple walls in the two villages were found defaced with “I love Mohammad” graffiti, sparking tension in the area. The accused then filed an FIR at the Lodha police station, naming seven people, including Mustaqeem and Gul Mohammad, accusing them of defacing the temples.
Police officials said that local officers were initially hesitant to register the FIR, but later did so following pressure from a local organisation’s leader, and the complaint was subsequently filed in his name.