UP: Right-Wing Leader Booked for 'Promoting Enmity' Between Religious Groups

Pooja Shakun Pandey, secretary of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, had called for a ban on Friday prayers.

Pooja Shakun Pandey.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@AshishXL)

A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against a right-wing leader named Pooja Shakun Pandey in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh for alleged controversial remarks against a particular community, the police said on Monday, 6 June.

Pandey had allegedly written a letter in blood against Friday prayers.

The case was filed against the accused, who is the national secretary of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, for promoting enmity between different religious groups.

"A First Information Report has been registered against Pooja Shakun Pandey in connection with her controversial statement. Case registered against her at Gandhi Park police station under section 153A/153B/295A/298/505 of IPC," said Aligarh Superintendent of Police (SP) Kalanidhi Naithani.

Pandey, also known as Sadhvi Annapoorna, was also booked in April 2020 for allegedly making inflammatory statements regarding the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in Delhi. She was also charged in December last year for delivering a 'hate speech' at Haridwar's Dharam Sansad.

In February 2019, Pandey was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police for "recreating" MK Gandhi's assassination.

In a video, Pandey was seen shooting at an effigy of Gandhi on his death anniversary, 30 January, and garlanding a statue of Nathuram Godse, his assassin.