Varanasi: Timely intervention by police helped foil bid by anti-social elements to create communal tension in Old Paan Dariba area under Chetganj police station by fanning rumours of cow slaughtering in close proximity to Kashi Vishwanath Dham on Tuesday. When police reached the spot, the youths gathered near Bakra Mandi in Old Paan Dariba started alleging illegal butchering of animals for meat selling, but none of their claims proved true during the spot inspection by officials.Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kashi zone Gaurav Banswal, who led the police force, said, “Claims of cow and other animals being slaughtered were false, as no remains of butchering were found at Bakra Mandi. As the youths produced a photograph of goat slaughtering in support of their claim, a case was registered at Chetganj police. Apart from investigating their claims, role of rumour-mongers and their attempt to disturb law and order will also be probed and appropriate legal action will be taken against them.”Chaos prevailed in Bakra Mandi of Old Paan Dariba when a group of youths posing as students of a university raided the place and started making hue and cry, alleging illegal slaughter. In the meantime, the rumour of cow slaughtering was also fanned. Before locals started mobilising to counter their bid, youths reached the local police outpost and created high drama, demanding action on their complaint.Sensing gravity of the matter, a heavy police force reached this area with a mixed population, while DCP reached the spot. A police team led by the DCP carried out a thorough search of the entire area and no evidence of any kind of animal slaughter or slaughterhouse operation was found in the area.The DCP said the investigation cleared that, except for buying and selling of goats, no other activity like slaughtering took place there, as it was not permitted. The area concerned falls in an approximately 2 km radius of the Kashi Vishwanath temple, but the road distance from the shrine area is almost 2 km. The DCP categorically dismissed rumours of cow slaughter or any kind of slaughtering in close proximity to the temple.Bakra Mandi traders said that a group of youths caused panic in the area by raiding the place and banging doors of traders, apart from assaulting and threatening the workers. They mentioned that many traders from Pal and Gaderiya communities come from rural areas to sell their goats at night and business ended by morning at this hundreds-of-years-old market. Besides trade of live animals, no slaughter takes place in this market, where sanitation workers from Varanasi Municipal Corporation visit daily.
