New Delhi: Days after a property sale between Hindu sellers and Muslim buyer in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, local Hindu groups protested and recited the Hanuman Chalisa at the local police station. Later, they recited the Hanuman Chalisa outside the villa in the city’s Thapar Nagar.
They vowed to stop what they described as a “Hindu exodus”. They demanded that the property’s registration be cancelled, as well as that it be sold only to a non-Muslim if it must be sold at all.
On Sunday (November 30), tensions escalated further when meat pieces were thrown outside the nearby gurdwara by two unknown men on a scooter, which according to Sachin Sirohi, a local Hindutva leader, is the handiwork of people he described as vidharmis (a slur used against non-Hindus).
Ayush Singh, an assistant superintendent with the Meerut police’s Crime Branch told PTI that the meat was discovered in an under-construction building near the gurdwara. “Preliminary findings suggest that unidentified persons deliberately threw the meat to disturb communal harmony,” he said.
Amidst growing hostility and calls for peace from the administration, Saeed suffered a cardiac arrest and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Meerut.
‘Spent all his savings’
On November 26, 40-year-old Saeed Ahmad bought Veena Kalra and her son Anubhav Kalra’s villa in Meerut’s Thapar Nagar, a posh colony inhabited mostly by Sikhs and Hindus. Saeed paid Kalra what the latter wanted – Rs 1.46 crore – and immediately moved in with his family despite protests from local Hindutva groups.
“He took a huge loan to buy this property. He has no enmity with anyone in our neighbourhood. This was close to his old business and so he spent all his savings to buy the property,” Shahroz, Saeed’s brother, told The Wire.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
