At least 12 Muslim shopkeepers have left Purola town in Uttarkashi district of BJP-ruled Uttarakhand in the past two weeks fearing harm by Hindutva organisations that have started a campaign against “love jihad”, some of the shopkeepers have alleged.

Among the 12 are two local leaders of the BJP minority cell — its district president Mohammad Zahid Malik and divisional president Shakeel Ahmad.

Malik and Ahmad are said to have closed their garment shops on June 8 and 11, respectively, and left Purola. Both were quoted by local reporters as saying they would open new shops in Dehradun and settle there.

Malik and Ahmad reportedly said they had spoken to local BJP leaders but to no avail.

Hindu organisations held a meeting on May 29 where they openly used derogatory words against Muslim women and instigated people to “attack us and our establishments”, local reporters quoted Malik as saying.

“I submitted a memorandum to the local administration and decided to leave the area to protect myself and my family,” Malik was quoted as saying by a reporter who did not wish to be named because he works for another news organisation.

Multiple attempts by The Telegraph to contact Malik and Ahmad for corroboration did not succeed.

On Monday, Uttarkashi deputy superintendent of police Surendra Singh Bhandari denied that Muslims were leaving Purola in fear.

“Maybe some people have shifted to other places for personal reasons. We have heard the rumours (about an exodus) and are keeping a close watch on the situation,” the DSP told reporters.

Mohammad Salim, a shopkeeper who left Purola on Monday, told a reporter: “My father had opened Shakil and Sons, a cloth store, here 42 years ago. But we can no longer live here; we fear an attack on us any day. I have secured commercial space in Dehradun and will continue my business there.”

The shadowy organisations that have alleged “love jihad” — an unsubstantiated allegation about a Muslim conspiracy to lure Hindu women into marriage and conversion — have denied any exodus of Muslims and accused Malik of slandering them.

They have called a “mahapanchayat” in Purola on June 15 to discuss this “calumny” against Hindus as well as “love jihad by Muslim shopkeepers’ sons”.

Notices in the name of the Devbhumi Raksha Sangathan were pasted on the shutters of shops owned by Muslims on Saturday, asking them to attend the mahapanchayat for the “final decision against those involved in love jihad”.

Local journalists said the Hindutva organisations involved include various new, little-known outfits such as the Devbhumi Raksha Sangathan and the Purola Pradhan Sangathan.

They said there was a trend locally of new saffron outfits cropping up all the time — drawing many of their members from better-known groups — before vanishing after a short while and re-emerging under some other name.

This apparently allows the established groups to target minorities without any direct taint attaching to themselves.

Malik said there had been “three to four” interfaith love affairs in Uttarkashi district and that this didn’t signify a conspiracy against any community.

The Purola PradhanSangathan alleges that Malik has falsely accused Hindutva groups of using derogatory words about Muslim women.

Its head, Ankit Rawat, told reporters: “It’s our responsibility to protect our children at a time love jihad is on the rise. Many Muslim leaders from the area have said that Malik’s allegation is baseless.”

The problems began after two youths, Jitendra Saini of Bijnore and Ubaid Khan of Purola, were arrested on May 25 on the charge of trying to lure a local Hindu girl, a minor, to elope with them. The girl’s family had contacted a Hindutva group, which went to the police.

Both accused have been arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and sent to jail. However, the Hindutva outfits have focused only on the Muslim identity of one of the youths.

On May 26, unidentified people attacked several shops owned by Muslims in Purola.

On June 10, some people assaulted a local youth, Qasim Malik, who was at a bus stand with a Hindu woman, waiting for a bus. The attackers handed him over to the police.

Investigating officer Dinesh Kumar said: “The woman knew the youth is a Muslim. Her husband serves in a security force in the state. We allowed the woman to go home and sent the man to Tehri jail on the charge of breach of peace.”

He didn’t explain how the man had breached the peace. No case has been registered against the attackers.