Some people accompanying the court-appointed survey commission to the Jama Masjid in Sambhal on Sunday had set up a triumphal chant of “Jai Shri Ram” to irritate Muslims, in the presence of senior police and district officials, multiple Opposition MPs in Uttar Pradesh have alleged.

Some of them claimed that police highhandedness had provoked the mob violence that has claimed four lives, and demanded the Supreme Court step in and look at the role played by the administration.

A mob protesting the survey — ordered after court petitions claimed Mughal emperor Babar had got the mosque built after demolishing a Harihar Mandir — had clashed with the police, leading to four deaths and injuries to scores, including policemen and district officials.

“Some people who were with the commission were chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. As the local people opposed this, the police opened fire and killed four people,” Sambhal MP and Samajwadi Party leader Ziaur Rahman Barq told reporters on Monday.

“The government must identify the police officers behind Sunday’s violence and put them in jail.”

Among those accompanying the court-appointed commissioner, local lawyer Raman Raghav, were fellow commission members (mostly lawyers), district magistrate Rajendra Paisiya and superintendent of police Krishna Kumar. Many unidentified people too had tagged along.

Three men — Naeem, Bilal and Nauman — were killed on Sunday and a fourth, Mohammad Kaif, died of his injuries on Monday. On Sunday, the police had alleged that firing from within the mob had caused the deaths while local people blamed the deaths on police firing.

On Monday, SP Kumar wouldn’t specify the cause of the deaths, saying the post-mortem would establish it. But PTI quoted divisional commissioner A.K. Singh as saying that prima facie, it appeared that gunshots from country-made weapons had caused the deaths.

Kumar claimed that members of the mob had attacked one another with firearms and sharp weapons in connection with a dispute over the control of the mosque.

Chandrashekhar, the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) MP from Nagina, who was stopped by the police in Hapur on Monday while travelling to Sambhal to meet the families of the victims, echoed Barq.

“We all know that people who accompanied the court commissioner to the Jama Masjid were chanting communal slogans. And the way the police were firing on the crowd was alarming,” he told reporters.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress general secretary and newly elected MP, wrote a post on X saying the Supreme Court should take cognisance of the matter and deliver justice. She described the state government’s attitude as “unfortunate”.

“The way the administration acted hurriedly without listening to both sides and without taking them into confidence shows that the government itself vitiated the atmosphere,” she wrote in Hindi.

The Samajwadis have alleged the survey team arrived at the mosque early on Sunday morning without informing the mosque management, the purported intent being to stir up trouble.

Samajwadi president and MP Akhilesh Yadav posted a video on X that purports to show some commission members walking towards the mosque along with the police, and a crowd accompanying them chanting “Jai Shri Ram”.

“A conspiracy was hatched to create tension in the name of a survey. The Supreme Court must take immediate action against those who took the sloganeering mob with them (to the mosque) to disturb social harmony. The Bar Association too should take disciplinary action against them (lawyers on the survey commission),” he wrote.

FIRs, arrests

The police have registered seven FIRs and arrested 25 people, including two women, while booking about 800 unidentified “rioters”. The charges include rioting, obstructing government servants, instigation and conspiracy, among others.

Barq and Sohail Iqbal, son of local Samajwadi MLA Iqbal Mehmood, have been booked on the charges of instigating the mob violence, SP Kumar said.

Barq denied the charge, saying he was in Bengaluru on Sunday. Asked about this, Kumar said that one need not be on the spot to incite violence.

Kumar’s comments came at a joint news conference with DM Paisiya in Sambhal on Monday morning, where they accused residents of the mosque’s neighbourhood of having conspired to vitiate the atmosphere.

“People were carrying knives and pistols; they were firing at the police. The groups of rioters had some enmity with each other over the management of the mosque, and they fired at each other, too,” Kumar said.

He said the fourth victim, Kaif, belonged to Moradabad district. “We are trying to find out what he was doing in Sambhal on Sunday. The rioters snatched revolvers and magazines from the police,” he said.

Paisiya said: “Some of the rioters had come from 10-12km away to commit mischief. We have CCTV footage and will put up their pictures across the district. Those who help us identify them will be rewarded.”

PTI quoted Kumar as saying that people who had tried to damage the mosque by hurling stones would also be identified, and rumour-mongers would be punished.

Samajwadi Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav said he had requested the Upper House Chairman to initiate a debate on Sambhal.

The district administration has banned assemblies and the entry of outsiders into Sambhal till November 30. A magisterial probe has been ordered into the violence.

Internet services have been blocked in Sambhal tehsil to prevent the spread of rumours, and schools closed for a day. Kumar said there was peace in Sambhal and shops had opened.

PTI reported that several houses in the area were locked and no one seemed ready to talk to the media. A heavy police team had been deployed and patrolling was under way.

A local court in Sambhal had ordered the survey on November 19, the day the petition was filed, and appointed Raghav as court commissioner for the exercise.

After conducting videography inside the mosque on November 19, Raghav had returned for the next leg of the survey on Sunday morning.