After the incident, on Monday itself, Additional Chief Secretary Home Avnish Awasthi and Additional Director General of Police Prashant Kumar held a press conference in Lucknow and said that the attack on the police personnel is part of a serious conspiracy and can be said on the basis of available facts. That this is a terrorist incident.
He said that the attacker was trying to enter the temple premises with a bad intention to carry out the terrorist incident, which was foiled by the PAC and police personnel.
Officials said that the attacker seriously injured two PAC personnel in the incident.
Awasthi said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed to hand over the investigation of this incident to the UP ATS. He said that both the agencies of UP ATS and UP STF have also been directed to work jointly to unearth the incident and senior officers of both the agencies have reached Gorakhpur.
Awasthi said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to PAC jawans Gopal Gaur and Anil Paswan and civil police personnel Anurag Rajput, who foiled the attack.
Awasthi said that the laptop and mobile of the accused will be seriously examined and it will be ascertained with whom he has been associated.
Officials in Gorakhpur said the attacker was produced in a local court earlier in the day, which sent him to 14-day judicial custody.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reached Gorakhpur and reached BRD Medical College and inquired about the well being of the police personnel injured in the attack.
At the same time, during the press conference, Additional Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said that many suspicious items have been recovered from the accused, which seems to be part of a serious conspiracy.
Kumar said that the documents which have been recovered from the accused are quite sensational. He said that the investigation is still in the initial stage.
Kumar said a case has been registered at Gorakhnath police station in connection with the attack on the police, while another case has been registered regarding the use of sharp weapons.
He said if the accused had managed to enter the temple, the devotees would have suffered and the situation would have gone out of control.
According to the police, the accused tried to forcibly enter the temple premises by chanting ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’ on Sunday.
At the same time, Gorakhpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vipin Tada said that a case has been registered against the attacker under various sections including section 307 (attempt to murder). He will be taken on remand and will be questioned by five teams.
The SSP said that several police teams are being sent to other districts to confirm the information received from the attacker. He said that the goods recovered from the possession of the accused, his family, relatives and background are also being investigated and further action will be taken based on the investigation report.
Meanwhile, according to a report by NDTV, Munir Murtaza, the father of the youth, claims that the youth was in depression since college and contemplating suicide.
He told the media, ‘He is constantly ill. He used to take unexplained holidays at work. When I retired, I brought him back to Gorakhpur as he was mentally stressed.
Murtaza used to work in a private company in Mumbai till two years ago after graduation.
At the same time, reacting to the development, Union Minister Giriraj Singh has said that the country is facing danger not because of the growing Muslim population but because of the ‘extremist mentality’ which was behind the attack on the security personnel posted at Gorakhnath temple.
While talking to reporters in the Parliament House complex, Singh alleged, ‘The increasing population of Muslims in the country is not a threat. The danger is the extremist mindset which takes various forms. Sometimes it demands implementation of Sharia law, sometimes it protests with hijab, sometimes it opposes the amended Citizenship Act and on the other hand an educated person acts like a terrorist.
(with input from news agency language)
