Lucknow: Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi on Monday said that terror angle could not be ruled out in the attack on Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur.
It may be mentioned that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is Mahant of Gorakhnath Math.
In a joint press conference with ACS Awasthi, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said, "On Sunday night one Murtaza Abbasi attacked security personnel deployed at Gorakhnath temple and raised religious slogans. He was overpowered by the security personnel and was later arrested by the police."
He said that two PAC jawans Gopal Gaur and Anil Paswan and one civil police personnel Azad Paswan sustained injuries in the attack.
Murtaza is a resident of Gorakhpur and graduated from the prestigious IIT (Indian Institute of Technology)-Bombay in 2015, said the police.
"From the things recovered from the possession of Murtaza it seems that there was preparation for a major conspiracy. Terror attack could not be denied as well," he said.
The ADG said that ADG Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) and ADG Special Task Force (STF) have reached Gorakhpur.
"Sensational documents have been recovered from the accused. Two cases have been lodged and the investigation is in the initial stages," he said.
He said that the security plan of vital organisations, including Gorakhnath temple, Ayodhya, Varanasi and Mathura is reviewed from time to time and security personnel are deployed accordingly.
"Brave jawans foiled the attempt otherwise if the accused would have managed to enter the temple it would have resulted in major damage," he said.
Kumar said that the accused will be sent to judicial remand.
Giving details of the directives issued by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, ACS Awasthi said, "The CM has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to the PAC jawans and police personnel injured in the attack. He has directed that ATS will investigate the case. In fact ATS and STF will jointly work on the case."
He said that details which have been recovered from the laptop and mobile are being investigated seriously.
"We are also trying to locate persons with whom Murtaza was having connections and it will be seen whether he had travelled abroad. We will also look at whether it's a part of a major conspiracy or not," he said. (Inputs from UNI)