An inquiry commission that on Sunday visited the Jama Masjid in Sambhal and its neighbourhood, where four men were killed in clashes on November 24, had a member who is a known apologist for the state’s BJP government.

Appointed by governor Anandiben Patel, the panel of retired high court judge Devendra Kumar Arora, retired IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad and retired IPS officer Arvind Kumar Jain has to submit its report to the Uttar Pradesh government within two months.

Prasad was not part of the team on Sunday, which spoke to the police officers who had been on duty during the violence a week ago. Jain is a familiar face on local TV channels, seen defending the BJP government on every possible issue.

Jain had retired in 2015 soon after becoming DGP during Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party government. The 1979-batch IPS officer had said in Meerut in 2017 that he would soon join the BJP and contest the Assembly elections from there, but eventually did not.

Samajwadi leader Shivpal Yadav said: “We don’t trust the government-appointed commission. We wanted an inquiry commission under a sitting judge of the high court.”

A government source said: “Mostly, Sambhal superintendent of police (SP) Krishna Kumar and district magistrate (DM) Rajendra Pensiya briefed the commission on the first day. The commission members may stay in Sambhal for 10 days and meet every section of people.”

Local people had clashed with the police outside the Jama Masjid after a court-appointed team arrived for a survey to ascertain whether the Mughal-era mosque had been built by demolishing a temple.

On Friday, the Supreme Court asked the mosque authorities to approach Allahabad High Court against the Sambhal court’s order for the survey, restrained the Sambhal court from proceeding further, and said the survey report can be submitted in a sealed cover but not opened thereafter.

Among the inquiry panel’s tasks are to decide whether the clashes were spontaneous or part of a conspiracy, and to ascertain the circumstances leading to the violence.

Local people claim the police fired on peaceful protesters but the police say that rival groups of protesters — at loggerheads over the control of the mosque — fired at each other, causing the deaths.

The commission members did not respond to media queries, PTI reported. They were accompanied by Moradabad divisional commissioner A.K. Singh, deputy inspector-general Muniraj G, DM Pensiya and SP Kumar. Pensiya and Kumar had been at the spot during the November 24 violence.

Zafar Ali, a member of the mosque management committee, said the survey team hadn’t found any evidence of a temple’s remains. The Sambhal court-appointed survey commissioner, Ramesh Raghav, who was supposed to submit the survey report to the local court on November 29, has sought 10 more days.

“I don’t know what they will write in the survey report but the fact is, there is nothing to make any such claim,” Ali said.

The Sambhal court had ordered the survey on November 19, the day a group of Hindus had petitioned it claiming Mughal emperor Babur had got a Harihar temple demolished and the mosque built over it.

Ali alleged the local administration had informed the mosque committee about the two visits by the survey team — on November 19 and 24 — barely an hour before their arrival.

“They didn’t give us enough time, and such behaviour raises doubts about their intention,” he said.

He alleged that a “lady SDM” had on the day of the violence forced the tank in the mosque’s wazukhana to be emptied so its floor could be photographed.

Ali claimed that as water flowed out of the mosque premises, people outside asked the security team whether any digging was going on inside.

“A police circle officer hurled invectives at them and said he would shoot them if they kept questioning him. The SDM of Sambhal and the circle officer were directly responsible for whatever happened on November 24,” Ali claimed.

DM Pensiya rubbished Ali’s allegations, saying: “There would be soil and not water if an area is excavated. And there’s a nullah through which water (from the tank) flows out every day.”

Construction row

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), custodian of the Sambhal Jama Masjid since 1920, last week told the local court it had filed a case against 13 mosque committee members for carrying out unauthorised constructions at the protected site in 2018.

A mosque committee member said: “The mosque had no gate, so we fixed an iron grille there. The ASI considers it construction.”

Divisional commissioner Singh said the DM’s order banning the entry of outsiders — including politicians, social organisations and public representatives — into Sambhal would be in place till December 10.

Additional reporting by PTI