Mosque razed in Sambhal over 'illegal' construction

Authorities in Sambhal's Chandausi town on Tuesday completely demolished the Raza-e-Mustafa Masjid, which was allegedly constructed unauthorisedly on land belonging to the local municipal council in Waris Nagar, Laxmangunj.

- HT Correspondent

MEERUT:

The demolition was carried out under heavy police presence and supervision of sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Vinay Kumar Mishra, and circle officer (CO) Anuj Chaudhary.

The area around the 40-feet-tall minaret was barricaded to prevent any damage to surrounding residential buildings, officials said.

The demolition was launched after a notice was issued to the mosque committee 20 days in advance, officials said, adding the committee had been given a 20-day deadline to remove the "illegal construction".

Officials said the mosque and 34 nearby houses had been built on approximately 6.5 bighas of government land unauthorisedly, and notices were issued to all of them.

The deadline ended on June 19, and demolition activities began on June 20.

On June 21, the mosque was targeted for demolition but following a request from the mosque committee, the operation was temporarily halted at around 2pm. Debris removal began soon after, and labourers engaged by the committee helped in the remaining demolition work.