In the wake of clashes in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly last Friday during a protest in support of “I love Muhammad” campaign, local cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, the Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) president, was arrested among other accused, and sent to 14-day judicial custody.

The Bareilly police have accused Tauqeer Raza, 65, of allegedly “masterminding” the violence.

A prominent face of the Barelvi Sunni community, Tauqeer wields considerable influence in the religious and social spheres in the Bareilly region.

He is a descendant of Ahmed Raza Khan – the founder of the Barelvi sect, who is popularly known as Aala Hazrat. He is the younger brother of Maulana Subhan Raza Khan, the “gaddi nasheen” (custodian) of the Bareilly dargah which is the shrine of Ahmed Raza Khan.

Political stin

See Full Page