Trio beats Muslim cleric to death inside mosque in Ajmer

Jaipur: In Rajasthan’s Ajmer, three men allegedly beat a cleric to death inside a mosque late on Saturday, and the deceased family alleged that the assaulters were those who were trying to take over the control of the mosque, The Indian Express reported.

According to police, the deceased was identified as Maulana Mohammad Mahir, aged 30, who lived in the Mohammadi Madina mosque, which also hosts a madrasa of around 15 students. On the day of the assault, three people entered the mosque through its back gate at 2 am and escaped in the same way after the act.

Ramganj police station in-charge Ravindra Khinchi said that during the unfortunate incident, there were madrasa students with the killed cleric, and they ran out screaming around 3:00 am. Police were informed after that, he said.

The cleric’s family alleged that he told them that some people in the area were not happy with him handling the madrasa, and they wanted to take over control of the institution. It was after the death of his mentor Maulana Zakir Hussain, in October last year that the deceased cleric was given charge of the mosque, the family said and added that they have named those who might be behind his murder with the police.

However, the station-in-charge said that police are yet to find out the motive behind the murder. They have found two sticks, suspected to be murder weapons, near the mosque and are checking CCTV cameras for leads. The dog squad was also summoned to the spot.