Agra locality tense after grave found ‘displaced’

According to the police, the nephew of the deceased had first spotted the disorganised grave Saturday morning and informed others.

TENSION PREVAILED in Agra’s Fatehpur Sikri after locals assembled at a graveyard Saturday morning following information of alleged abuse on a body buried Friday afternoon, police said. Officers claimed to have recovered an empty bottle of liquor inside the grave, which had been left open. The soil and the shroud used in burial were found removed, leading to anger among the locals who were pacified after a forensic team collected samples to ascertain the alleged abuse.

Police have registered an FIR against unidentified persons under IPC sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 297 (trespassing on burial places, etc), Fatehpur Sikri police station officer Hari Shankar Chand said.

According to the police, the nephew of the deceased had first spotted the disorganised grave Saturday morning and informed others. Officials of the district administration and senior police officers had to rush to the scene to calm locals who initially prohibited officials from taking the body out of the grave for test.

Circle Officer, Fatehpur Sikri area, Vijay Kumar said, “The forensic team was subsequently called and it collected samples from the body, which was buried again in the afternoon after the rituals had been performed afresh.”

Senior Superintendent of Police, Agra, Preetinder Singh said the entire process was carried out in the presence of a magistrate. Sub-divisional magistrate, Fatehpur Sikri, Ajeet Singh said the autopsy was not ordered as the cause of death — cardiac arrest — had already been ascertained.

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