Attack at Gorakhnath Temple: NIA court hands death sentence to accused Murtaza Abbasi

New Delhi, Jan 30: A special NIA court on Monday handed death sentence to accused, Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi, for attacking security personnel at the Gorakhnath temple in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur. Abbasi, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduate, was convicted by the court.

Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi, special judge of the ATS court, also imposed a fine of Rs 44,000 on Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi.

On April 3 last year, Abbasi tried to enter the Gorakhnath temple premises while shooting religious slogans before he was overpowered by a crowd and arrested.

According to an FIR lodged at the Gorakhnath police station on April 4, 2022 on the basis of a complaint from Vinay Kumar Mishra, Abbasi, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduate, tried to forcibly enter the Gorakhnath temple premises on April 3 and attacked the security personnel deployed there with a sickle, injuring two Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) constables. He was overpowered by the security personnel and subsequently, arrested.

The investigation was conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS).

The court had earlier convicted him under section 121 (waging or abetting war against the government of India), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of his public functions), 307 (attempt to murder), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) of the Indian Penal Code. He was also booked for offences under the Arms Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act. The court heard his counsel on the quantum of sentence and awarded him capital sentence.

His father Munir Abbasi said Murtaza belonged to the 2015 batch of IIT-Mumbai and was a chemical engineer.

The Gorakhnath temple is the highest Peeth of the Nath sect and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath is the Mahant of this Peeth.