Sambhal: Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka stopped by UP police at Ghazipur border

With prohibitory orders in place in Sambhal, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi was stopped near the Ghazipur border in Ghaziabad, on the Delhi–Meerut Expressway on Wednesday, 4 December, on his way to the district, a senior police officer said.

Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior Congress leaders reached the Ghazipur border in the morning where there was heavy police deployment, with barricades put up to stop the cavalcade from entering Sambhal.

Curbs under Section 163 (power to issue an order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which were set to expire on Sunday, 8 December, have now been extended till 31 December in Sambhal.

Sambhal district magistrate Rajendra Pensia on Tuesday, 3 December, wrote a letter to the police commissioners of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad and the superintendents of police of Amroha and Bulandshahr districts, urging them to stop Rahul Gandhi at the borders of their districts.

"We will not permit Rahul Gandhi to [proceed to] Sambhal as prohibitory orders have been issued by the administration there. Police will stop Gandhi at UP gate," Ghaziabad police commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra told PTI.

He said ample police force has been deployed at the spot.

Tension had been brewing in Sambhal since 19 November, when a Mughal-era mosque was surveyed on court orders following claims that a Harihar temple previously stood at the site.

Violence erupted during a second survey on 24 November, as protesters gathered near the Shahi Jama Masjid and clashed with security personnel. Four people were killed in the violence, at least other other person died later of his injuries, and many more were injured. Some of them were minors.