The Sambhal administration on Tuesday claimed that over two dozen illegally built shops and houses have cropped up on a Muslim burial ground adjacent to the Shahi Jama Masjid.

The district administration on Tuesday conducted a measurement survey of the graveyard spread across 4,780 square metres of public land based on a complaint by a Hindutva group.

Subhas Chandra Tyagi, a leader of Sri Kalki Sena, had in his complaint to Sambhal district magistrate (DM) Rajendra Pensiya alleged that the rioters had pelted the police with stones from these buildings during a court-ordered survey of the mosque on November 24, 2024.

“We conducted the measurement survey of about 4,780 square metres of the land of the graveyard today based on a complaint. We found encroachment in its three corners. People have illegally built over two dozen shops and houses on the land,” Pensiya told reporters at the site on Tuesday.

“We are serving notices to the encroachers. A tehsildar’s court will hear the case.
We’ll initiate a demolition drive if the court is not satisfied with their replies,” he added.

Over 1,000 police and paramilitary forces were deployed at the site during the survey.

Sambhal superintendent of police Krishna Kumar Bishnoi said: “The administration had received a complaint that some people had encroached on the graveyard land. Over 1,000 square metres of the area is in the possession of encroachers. Shops and houses are standing on the land meant exclusively for use as a graveyard in the revenue department records.”

Mashhoor Mohammad, owner of a grocery shop on the graveyard land, said: “My family has owned the shop for the last 100 years. We have every detail to prove our ownership of the land where my shop is located. We hope the administration will allow us to prove our claims.”

Large-scale violence had broken out in front of the Shahi Jama Masjid on November 24 last year during the local court-ordered survey. The survey was meant to evaluate Hindu petitioners’ claim that Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had built the mosque after demolishing a temple, and the site should therefore be handed over to Hindus.

Four people had died during a clash with the police.