Invoking 15 sections of the IPC and three sections of the IT Act, Bijnor Police have booked journalist Vineet Narain and two others for falsely accusing the general secretary of the Ram Temple Trust in a Facebook post.

According to the police, Narain alleged in his social media post that VHP leader and general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust Champat Rai was involved in a land grabbing case.

The trio was booked basis an FIR filed by Champat Rai’s brother Sanjay Bansal for conspiring against Rai and his family and in the process, hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community.

Narain’s Facebook post

Narain in his inflammatory Facebook post made on June 18 accused Champat Rai of facilitating the grabbing of 20,000 square meters of cow shelter land owned by NRI Alka Lahoti (also named in the FIR) by his brothers in the Bijnor district.

Narain also claimed that Lahoti was trying to get the encroachers evicted since 2018 and had appealed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the same. 

Sanjay Bansal in his complaint mentioned that after searching for Narain’s number, he reached out to him to clear the “facts of the case”. “However, a man calling himself Rajnish picked up the phone, misbehaved with me and threatened to kill me,” Bansal said in the complaint.

The FIR accuses Narain, Lahoti and Rajinish of “promoting enmity on the grounds of religion”, providing “false evidence”, “cheating” and “trespass” among other charges.

Statement by Bijnor Police

Bijnor police chief Dr Dharm Vir Singh said in the statement that the matter is under investigation. However, prima facie the documents provided by the accused have found to be false. 

“Mr Champat Rai is a senior leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and a member of the Ram Temple Trust and the accusations against him by the accused are baseless and prima facie the accusations against his relatives are baseless too. We are ascertaining all the facts,” he added.

Narain is currently involved with an NGO which works towards environmental protection. 

This comes shortly after AAP leader Sanjay Singh in a failed attempt tried to rake up a farce controversy against Champat Rai and Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for being allegedly involved in a ‘land scam’. AAP leader had alleged corruption in the procurement of additional land for Ram Mandir. However, the claims have been misleading and untrue.