Allahabad HC to hear plea against charge sheet in Sambhal Jama Masjid violence case

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court will on Monday hear a plea filed by the mosque committee chairman in connection with the Sambhal Jama Masjid violence case.

The petition, moved by Zafar Ali, challenges the charge sheet filed by police over the clashes that broke out during the survey of the mosque on November 24, 2024. Ali, who was later arrested after his name surfaced in the investigation, secured bail from the High Court on July 24.

The matter has been listed before Justice Sameer Jain and is expected to come up later in the day.

The hearing follows the filing of a 4,400-page charge sheet by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Uttar Pradesh Police across six related cases. The violence in Sambhal left five people dead and many others injured.

According to officials, Shariq Satha, a Sambhal resident, is believed to be the key conspirator. He allegedly ran a car theft racket involving over 300 stolen vehicles from Delhi-NCR and was linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Pakistan’s ISI. Investigators said he fled the country on a forged passport.

The probe also uncovered suspicious financial dealings linked to accounts in Sambhal and foreign-made cartridges recovered from the riot sites. Police said Satha’s associates fired shots that killed four people, while the circumstances around the fifth death remain unclear as no FIR was registered.

The charge sheet also names Samajwadi Party MP Ziaur Rahman Barq and the son of local MLA Iqbal Mahmood among the accused. In total, 37 people have been specifically identified, while another 3,750 remain unnamed in connection with the case.