Bhopal's Arif Nagar turned into the epicentre of controversy on Monday. Allegations flew thick and fast: stones hurled at a Ganesh idol immersion procession, idols vandalised, and hurt sentiments sparking outrage. Angry crowds surrounded Gautam Nagar police station, demanding action. Politicians were quick to pounce, calling it an "attack on Sanatan Dharm," invoking conspiracies, and promising that no one would be spared.
But within hours, the narrative began to crumble. Police inquiry and CCTV footage told a very different story.
The complainant, Charan Singh Kushwaha, had accused three men of pelting stones and breaking the idols. The FIR claimed the complainant and several committee members saw the accused hurl stones with their own eyes. Yet CCTV footage revealed a shocking twist. Abdul Haleem, named as the "main accused," was actually at his shop when the alleged violence unfolded. Time-stamped surveillance footage, recovered from a local store, placed him far from the scene.
Another accused, Sahil, is a history-sheeter, but on that very evening, he was caught on another CCTV camera creating a ruckus elsewhere outside the house of a man named Azharuddin. The third man, Yasin, was also named, but the complainant later admitted he never saw Yasin at the spot. The names, he claimed, were told to him by "others."
Additional DCP Shalini Dixit confirmed the discrepancies. Her team rushed to the spot after hearing of stone pelting, but found no immediate evidence. The FIR itself, she pointed out, was filed half an hour later, and none of the complainant's witnesses came forward to record statements. "Primary evidence suggests the accused were not at the spot. CCTV and eyewitnesses have not corroborated the allegations," she said, adding that legal action would follow if the FIR was proven false.
The contradictions deepen further. Abdul Haleem, now accused, had just weeks earlier lodged an FIR against the complainant himself. On August 8, he accused Kushwaha and his men of abusing his staff, threatening them, and even warning that their vehicle would be set on fire. What looked like a communal flashpoint may, in fact, be the fallout of personal enmity.
Residents of Arif Nagar are furious. "Those who tried to malign an entire area, an entire community, must be booked," said local resident Sohail Hashmi. "They spoiled the atmosphere, spread lies, and tried to create unrest. We are going to demand action against the complainant."
The incident has also left politicians red-faced. While BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma thundered that anyone disrupting Ganesh processions would face a lifetime of obstacles, Minister Vishwas Sarang declared Madhya Pradesh "an island of peace" where no mischief-maker would be spared. Both leaders framed the clash as a communal provocation. Yet the evidence, pieced together by investigators, undermines the very narrative they rushed to amplify.
Even more questions are being asked: why was the idol immersion happening after Anant Chaturdashi, during Shraddha Paksha, when traditions typically bar such ceremonies?
Further investigation into the case is underway.
