12 Ajmer Sharif khadims in the dock

Ajmer, Nov 22: Twelve khadims of Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi's Dargah are in the dock here for closing the main entrance gate of the Dargah just before the beginning of the annual Urs festivities this year, leaving thousands of Ziyarins stranded for hours.

The police produced challans against them in a court here yesterday for obstructing the ceiling drive a day before Urs began and for indulging in a scuffle with workers of the dargah committee.

This year on July 25, a day before the Urs festivities began, the dargah committee had started a ceiling drive to remove various shacks from the dargah premises. The committee had appealed to the khadims several times to remove their shops before the drive began.

When workers of the dargah committee reached the spot, the khadims beat up the workers and closed the main Nizam gate, which left thousands of ziyarins who had come to offer prayers at the dargah, stranded for more than two hours.

The accused include former secretary of Khadim's organisation Anjuman Angara. The list also includes Khadim Bilal Angara, Salim Chisti, Sanwar Ali, Shakil Ahmed, Usman Aalam, Mohammad Fasiuddin, Allahuddin, Ainuddin, Sadikul Hussain, Kesar Ali and Salim.

UNI