New Delhi: The four Muslim men who were killed during the November 2024 survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh did not die due to police firing, but succumbed to “crossfire by miscreants present in the crowd belonging to the Turk and Pathan Muslim communities”, a three-member judicial commission probing the violence has concluded.The probe commission claimed that the violence that took place on November 24, 2024 was “pre-planned” and “primarily the result of abetment by conspiracy hatched” between sitting Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Zia-ur-Rahman Barq, Suhel Iqbal (son of SP MLA Iqbal Mahmood), Zafar Ali (chairperson of the Sambhal Jama Masjid’s managing committee) and others members of the mosque’s management.Five Muslims were killed during the violence, though official records acknowledged only four deaths: Mohammad Kaif, Naeem, Ayaan, and Bilal. Twenty-eight police personnel were injured, and several vehicles were torched or damaged during the clashes.A survey of the Mughal-era mosque was hurriedly carried out by a court-appointed advocate commissioner on November 19, 2024, less than three hours after a civil judge senior division passed the order. A second round of survey took place on November 24, but that was marred by large-scale violence. The state government constituted a three-member commission headed by Devendra Kumar Arora, retired judge of the Allahabad high court, to probe the incident.Retired IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad, who served under chief minister Yogi Adityanath, and retired IPS officer Arvind Kumar Jain, who was the Director General of Police in 2015, when the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party was in power, were the other two members of the commission.The commission was tasked with inquiring whether the incident was “sudden or well planned and the result of a criminal conspiracy,” and due to what “reasons and circumstances” the incident took place. A copy of the probe report, which was submitted in 2025, was tabled in the UP assembly on August 5.Contrary to allegations by several quarters, especially opposition leaders and the management of the mosque, that the police fired bullets at the protesting crowd, the panel concluded that Sambhal police did not use lethal firearms. The police had denied charges of firing bullets at the protestors and maintained that they only fired rubber pellets and tear gas and used lathi-charge to disperse the crowd. The police also claimed that the four persons killed of gunshot wounds were hit by country-made weapons, suggesting that members of the mob may have shot at each other.Police ‘exercised restraint’Quoting ballistic evidence, the commission said that the FSL Agra ballistic team’s crime scene reconstruction report confirmed that the police did not use lethal firearms and “exercised restraint” despite the crowd looting police weapons and launching “life-threatening attacks” on the police. Through the prudence of the Police and Administration, miscreants were prevented from inciting communal riots across the state and Country,” the commission said.The commission also said, on the basis of ballistic reports filed by the Superintendent of Police, Sambhal, that the gunshot injuries found on the four deceased persons may have been caused by 315 bore weapons – in other words, country-made weapons. There was no evidence on record that the police personnel had any 315 bore weapons in their hands, the commission noted.It further noted that the FIRs lodged by the kin of the four Muslim men who were killed were registered against unknown persons with the allegations that their deaths occurred due to being caught in the violence perpetrated by stone-pelters and the mob. “None of the relatives have mentioned in either of the First Information Report or in his statement before the Commission that his relative’s death was caused by Police action,” the commission said.Also read: ‘Institutionalised Communal Mindset’: Court Order In Sambhal Violence Case Sparks Political StormSP MPs ‘hatched a conspiracy by calling upon Muslim community’SP MP Barq was particularly blamed by the panel. It accused Barq of delivering a provocative speech outside the mosque on November 19, 2024, on the first day of the survey, and then making similar claims while speaking to the media on November 22, 2024, after the Friday prayers. Barq created a “hostile atmosphere” against Hindus, administrative Officers and Police Officers of Sambhal, misleading the public belonging to Muslim community, as if the Jama Masjid was in imminent danger and Hindus were going to dismantle the same, the commission said.Barq and Suhel Iqbal wanted to maintain the political dominance, power and the grip over the Muslim community and hence wanted to defame the government and the district administration and police, said the probe commission. It said that Barq, Iqbal and members of the mosque’s management committee “hatched a conspiracy by calling upon the Muslim community” to gather at the mosque and oppose the survey by all means. The commission accused these individuals, in their bid to maintain their control over the mosque, of conspiring to withhold the true nature of the court-ordered survey from the Muslim community.“They incited and mobilised a crowd, in which individuals with criminal tendencies joined, in violation of the provisions of section 163 BNSS, with the majority of persons hiding their identities with the mask etc. attempting to give the incident a communal colour. This was done with the malicious intent to defame the Government and its machinery not only at the national level but international level as well,” it stated.The three-member panel said that a thorough examination of eyewitness statements, forensic reports, and other relevant evidence leads to an “unequivocal conclusion” that the Sambhal violence poses “a grave and deadly threat to national security.”“The orchestrated violence, characterised by widespread destruction and chaos, aims to undermine India’s unity, integrity, sovereignty, security, and economic stability, striking terror among the populace. If proven, such egregious acts will warrant severe penalties, including life imprisonment,” it said.Barq says Muslims ‘being blamed’The commission also referred to Sambhal’s demography, especially its high Muslim population, and past communal violence as contributing factors for the violence, mirroring arguments by ruling BJP leaders soon after the incident to frame it as acts of intra-Muslim rivalry.Also read: How Nehru’s 1924 Report on Sambhal Violence Was Distorted by Adityanath“The town of Sambhal has a population of 80% Muslim and 20% Hindu. This town has a long history of communal riots. Due to the environment and background of riots and violence, Muslim religious extremism has increased in Sambhal town, and elements that promote and provoke religious extremism have also gained strength, creating a fertile ground for religious extremism. In the district of Sambhal, two groups among the Muslims, Turks and Pathans are active. A violent atmosphere is created for the fight of dominance between them,” it said.Reacting to the report, Barq told media agencies that he refused to accept the findings that the police did not fire at the protestors and that the protestors were killed by members of the crowd.Barq said that all the visuals of the protests allegedly showed police personnel, and not the protestors, using weapons. “Why will people who were apparently out to save the mosque fire at their own people,” Barq asked, questioning the theory of a conspiracy.“I agree with the government that it was pre-planned. But the only difference is that it was not pre-planned by the public but by the police administration and the government,” he told IANS.Barq said that not only were Muslim men killed in the violence, the community was also being blamed for the killings.“I have repeatedly challenged them on this: to date, not a single image has been produced showing any young man or senior citizen from Sambhal holding or firing a weapon. In all the photos and videos that have surfaced, police officers, whether from government or private agencies, are seen operating the vehicles; they are the ones standing right there,” he said.