Mosque imam was brutally beaten to death by masked criminals on Saturday in the village of Ramganj. Maulana Mohammed Mahir, who served as the head of the local mosque, was viciously attacked around 3am while he slept in a room adjacent to where six children were residing.

According to police reports, three masked assailants entered Mahir’s room adjacent to where six children were residing around 3 am. They viciously attacked the imam with sticks, resulting in his death at the scene. The perpetrators threatened the children and took away their mobile phones, preventing them from immediately contacting the authorities. However, the children managed to escape and alerted nearby residents, who rushed to the mosque and found a deceased lifeless body in a pool of blood.

Mahir, originally from Rampur, had been appointed as the mosque’s head following the demise of the previous imam, Maulana Zakir Hussain. He had been serving in the Mosque in Ramganj village for the past seven years, teaching and guiding the children who resided with him.

Rampur SHO Ravindra Khinchi said the Police have registered a case against the unknown assailants under sections 302 (murder) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt). Authorities are reviewing CCTV footage and have recovered two sticks from the mosque’s backyard, believed to be the weapons used in the attack.

While the police have initiated investigation with several individuals, no arrests have been made thus far. The investigation is ongoing to determine the motive behind this heinous crime and bring the perpetrators to justice. In the aftermath of this heinous tragedy, agitated locals staged a protest, demanding swift action against the culprits. A group of Muslim devotees also submitted a memorandum to the district collector, Bharati Dixit, calling for heightened security measures to protect the people in the mosque.