A petitioner in the Kashi Vishwanath temple−Gyanvapi mosque dispute has received a threat to his life, after which he has been provided security, police said on Saturday.
Harihar Pandey has been provided security on the orders of Police Commissioner A Satish Ganesh. Pandey said that when he reached home after a fast-track court order in the case on Thursday, he received a call from an unknown number.
He claimed that the person gave his name as Yasin and said, “Pandeyji, you have won the case but will not be able to enter the archaeologically surveyed temple. You and your colleagues will be killed.”
The police are conducting further investigations on the matter.
A Varanasi court on Thursday had ordered that an archaeological survey of the Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Gyanvapi mosque premises be conducted. In its order, the court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to bear the expenses of the archaeological survey and constitute a five-member team of reputed archaeologists to oversee the dig and examine the unearthed material remains. At least two of the members of this committee have to be from the minority community, the court had ruled.
The plea in the case had contended that the mosque in Varanasi was built after the demolition of the temple by the Mughal Aurangzeb, and the land the mosque currently stands on is a part of the temple complex and thus must be handed back to the Hindu community.
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