A three-member inquiry commission, set up to probe the November 2024 Sambhal violence, has submitted its 450-page report to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the state Information Department confirmed on Thursday.
The report provides a detailed account of the November clashes, past communal riots in the region, and demographic shifts in Sambhal. It notes that while Hindus once constituted about 45% of the population, their share has dropped to 15–20%, while the Muslim population has risen to 85% in the Sambhal Nagar Palika area.
The commission highlighted that 15 riots have occurred in Sambhal since Independence.
The violence on November 24, 2024, broke out during a court-ordered Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey at the Shahi Jama Masjid. Clashes left four people dead and several others, including locals and officials, injured after police opened fire to control the situation.
Following the incident, 12 FIRs were registered, and 80 arrests were made for stone-pelting. Investigations named 159 accused, with weapons recovered from the site reportedly traced to the UK, USA, and Germany. The Uttar Pradesh Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) had earlier filed a 4,000-page chargesheet across six of the 12 cases.
The UP government subsequently set up the commission, chaired by retired judge Devendra Arora, former DGP A.K. Jain, and former IAS officer Amit Mohan Prasad, to conduct a thorough probe into the violence.
