Two arrested for allegedly 'defiling' Taj Mahal
Agra, Aug 3: Police arrested two youths from the Taj Mahal premises on Saturday after they were seen pouring water from a bottle there. A local right-wing Hindu outfit claimed that the two were its members and had offered holy 'Gangajal' as they believe the monument is a Hindu temple.
Suraj Kumar Rai, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Agra City), said the two youths were arrested following a written complaint by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel posted inside the Taj Mahal.
"The youths entered the premises as tourists. The complaint said that the youths were seen pouring water inside the Taj Mahal premises," he told reporters.
They have been arrested after the incident and a case has been filed at the Tajganj Police Station, Rai said.
The case has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 223 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant), 298 (injuring or defiling place of worship), and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), the police said, adding the matter is being investigated in detail.
A purported video of the incident also appeared on social media.
A local Hindu organisation Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) has claimed that youths are its members and the two offered water of the holy Ganges on the premises as it is a Hindu temple, 'Tejo Mahalay'.
The incident comes just days after a member of the group carrying Kanwar on her shoulders tried to enter the Taj Mahal to offer Gangajal.
However, she was stopped by the policemen deployed at the barrier of the west gate of the Taj Mahal.
In a purported video of the Saturday incident, a youth is seen pouring water on the floor above the locked basement where the graves of Mughal emperor Shahjahan and his wife Mumtaz are located.
Sanjay Jaat, a spokesperson of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM), said the two arrested youths -- Vinesh Chaudhary and Shyam -- are its members.
"They entered the Taj Mahal. One of them offered 'Gangajal' inside the premises of the Taj Mahal which was a Hindu temple of Lord Shiva. We are proud of it and will keep doing it," he said.
इन बेवकुफो को कोई समझाओ कीं सावन में गंगा जल शिवलिंग पर चढ़ाया जाता है ना कीं कब्र पर
— Gaurav Yadav (@ygauravyadav) August 3, 2024
आगरा :ताजमहल के अंदर कब्र पर अखिल भारत हिन्दू महासभा के कार्यकर्ताओं ने गंगाजल चढ़ाया।#tajmahal pic.twitter.com/6s0vDrc0CO
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
