Four Hindus arrested for writing ‘I Love Muhammad’ graffiti in UP temples

A few days after communal tension arose in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhagwanpur and Bulaqigarh villages over the appearance of “I Love Muhammad” graffiti on the walls of five temples, police have taken four Hindu men into custody.

Those arrested have been identified as Jishant Singh, Akash Saraswat, Dilip Sharma, and Abhishek Saraswat.

Earlier, officers had filed cases against eight Muslim residents — Mustaqeem, Gul Mohammad, Sulaiman, Sonu, Allahbaksh, Hameed, and Yousuf — in connection with the incident, Siasat Daily reported.

However, investigators later determined that the graffiti had allegedly been painted by the four arrested individuals to falsely implicate the Muslim men and stir communal unrest.

At a press conference on Thursday, October 30, officials stated that the main accused, Jishant Singh, had previously had an altercation with Mustaqeem and, along with his friends, decided to frame him by writing the graffiti on the temple walls.

According to the police, the accused men sprayed the graffiti across several temples earlier in the week, which triggered public anger and heightened communal tensions in the area.