Four persons, including a defendant in the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri case, were arrested by Varanasi police on Saturday for allegedly disturbing social harmony in the city.

The arrests were made based on a complaint by the principal of Udai Pratap Autonomous College where some members of a Hindutva group had organised the recital of Hanuman Chalisa 10 days ago to protest the offering of namaz by some Muslims at a defunct mazar on the campus.

According to principal Dharmendra Kumar Singh, the Sunni Central Waqf Board had staked claim to the mazar on December 6, 2018. Later, the head of the board, through a letter dated January 18, 2021, acknowledged that they had made a mistake and that it was not their property.

“One day some people entered the campus and offered namaz. Another group of people responded by reciting the Hanuman Chalisa there. I have filed a complaint against two identified and 10 unidentified persons from both sides,” Singh said.

Local residents Mukhtar Ahmad and Ghulam Rasool have been named as accused. Ahmad is one of the defendants in the Gyanvapi case.

On the 32nd anniversary of the demolition of Babri masjid on Friday, which the Right-wing ecosystem celebrates as the day of victory, a large number of students held a protest on the college campus demanding the immediate arrest of those who had offered namaz at the mazar.

Vidush Saxena, assistant deputy commissioner of police of Varanasi, said: “We have identified four troublemakers and arrested them. They are Ahmad, a defendant in the Gyanvapi case, and siblings Afroz Khan, Adil Khan and Feroz Khan. The matter is still under investigation.” Rasool is still absconding.

Chandrakant Meena, deputy commissioner of police of Varanasi, said: “We identified the accused with the help of several videos collected by the cyber cell of the police. They were produced before a court and sent to jail.”

Seven cases are pending in the local court with regard to the Gyanvapi mosque, which is located beside the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

Hindu petitioners claim that the mosque was built after razing a portion of the temple on the direction of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

A court-mandated advocate commissioner and his team had surveyed the Gyanvapi mosque last year and the Varanasi District Court had eventually allowed the Hindus to worship in the basement of the structure.

The case is still on and the Muslim side has accused the Hindu groups of unnecessarily dragging their mosque into a controversy. They have also said that any wish to alter the current status of the mosque was against the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act 1991, which guaranteed status quo to any religious structure as it existed on August 15, 1947. A case on the issue is also pending in the Supreme Court.