Mosque cleric allegedly beaten to death by masked men in Rajasthan; attackers threaten children present at crime scene

In an alleged case of being beaten to death, a group of three masked men killed a 30-year-old cleric of a mosque in Rajasthan's Ajmer, police said on Sunday. A case has been lodged in the matter and efforts are on to identify and nab the accused, the officials added.

The incident took place around 2 am on Saturday when the accused allegedly entered the mosque located in Kanchan Nagar under the Ramganj police station limits and attacked the cleric, Mohammad Tahir, with sticks. Tahir died on the spot while six children were also present inside the mosque when the incident occurred, the police said.

The trio allegedly threatened the children not to disclose the matter and took away their mobile phones so that they could not inform anyone or call for help, they said. After the accused fled, the children came out of the mosque and told people about the incident, the police added.

Tahir used to teach children in the mosque, according to the police.

SHO Ramganj Ravindra Singh said Tahir's body was handed over to his family members after they arrived in Ajmer from Uttar Pradesh.

A case has been registered over the matter against unidentified persons under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, the SHO said.

He said so far no arrest has been made in this connection and efforts are on to identify and arrest the accused.

(with PTI inputs)