Friday prayers end peacefully at Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi

In order to avert any untoward incident, tight security arrangements were made in the periphery of one kilometre of the Gyanvapi complex and intensive patrolling was carried out by the police officers in the area

While incidents of violence and protests were reported from several parts of Uttar Pradesh after Friday prayers, the namaz was offered peacefully at the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi amid tight security arrangements.

Gyanvapir mosque complex (PTI file photo)

Intensive foot patrolling was conducted in the hypersensitive areas and Bajardiha area of Varanasi on Friday. Commissioner of police A Satish Ganesh led the foot patrolling while the monitoring of the roof tops was done using drone cameras. The drones were also used for surveillance in several areas.

In order to avert any untoward incident, tight security arrangements were made in the periphery of one kilometre of the Gyanvapi complex and intensive patrolling was carried out by the police officers in the area.

The Godoulia-Maidagin road remained closed since morning. Except the namazis, no one else was allowed to move towards the Gyanvapi complex. The impact of the appeal of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee that had asked the devotees to not to turn up in large numbers to offer prayers at the mosque, was quite visible as very limited number of namazis reached the Gyanvapi mosque.

Most of the shops in Dalmandi, Nai Sadak, Pilikothi, Madanpura, Bajardiha, adjacent to Kashi Vishwanath Dham, remained closed since Friday morning. In Bajardiha area, Police Commissioner A Satish Ganesh did foot patrolling with top officials. He was accompanied by ADCP Kashi Zone and ACP Bhelupur.

In the afternoon, the barricading was removed from the Godoulia-Maidagin road following which the shops started re-opening and normal activities resumed in the area.