Mosque trustee, 8 others held for evicting shopkeepers in Rajkot under Waqf

A trustee of a mosque in Gujarat's Rajkot city and eight others have been arrested for allegedly evicting three shopkeepers by citing a Waqf Board order, the police said on Friday.

The shops, rented out by the trust to Hindu traders, are situated on the ground floor of Nawab Mosque in Danapith area.

On December 31, a mob led by mosque trustee Farooq Musani allegedly broke the locks and took possession of the shops by throwing out all the merchandise onto the road, a police official said.

When one of the shopkeepers, Virendra Kotecha, confronted Musani and others, they cited a Gujarat State Waqf Board order asking the mosque trust to take possession of the shops.

Kotecha told reporters that his family had been running the shop since 1962, and no prior notice was served to him by the trust.

Musani, on the other hand, told reporters before his arrest that the shopkeepers were evicted as per the Waqf Board's order, copies of which were given to them.

State Waqf Board member Asif Salot said it had indeed passed the order, but due procedure was not followed by the trust while taking possession of the shops for violating various norms.

Based on Kotecha's complaint, Rajkot Police registered a First Information Report on January 1 against Musani and others for alleged unlawful assembly, criminal trespass and criminal intimidation, said a police release. Musani and eight others who were allegedly involved in vandalizing the shops were arrested on Thursday, and the police handed over the possession of the shops back to the traders, said the release. "All the shops have reopened and the accused arrested. We will not allow people to be harassed due to any illegal activity," said Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi in a post on X.