Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh police on Tuesday arrested four people who had allegedly offered namaz inside the newly inaugurated LuLu Mall here in an "unauthorised" manner, officials said, adding that efforts are on to trace four more accused in the case.
Police said none of the accused are staff of the mall. "Four people were arrested on Tuesday for offering namaz in a mall in an unauthorised manner. The accused have been identified as Mohammad Rehan, Atif Khan, Mohammad Lokman and Mohammad Noman. All of them are residents of Lucknow," Police Commissioner of Lucknow D K Thakur said.
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He said efforts are on to arrest the other four accused persons. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Monday directed the administration to act tough against such "elements hell-bent on vitiating the atmosphere". "The Lucknow administration must take the matter very seriously. Miscreants attempting to create such nuisance should be dealt with strictly," said CM Adityanath, who had on July 10 inaugurated the mall that's run by Abu Dhabi-based Lulu Group of Indian-origin billionaire Yussuf Ali MA.
Meanwhile, the mall management, in a statement, had said that 80 per cent of its staff are Hindus. The incident kicked up a row after a right-wing Hindu outfit objected to it and sought permission to recite the Hanuman Chalisa there.
