The door of a mosque was set ablaze on Monday by unidentified persons in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj district, leading to brief tension in the area that was singed by violence and clashes on Republic Day. Police said the situation is calm.

Tension gripped the Sabzi Mandi area on Monday morning when unidentified persons set ablaze the door of the mosque in Ganjdundwara in an attempt to disrupt the communal harmony in the area, a police officer said.

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The fire was doused by locals and a fire tender but the door had been gutted by then, he said.

Residents from the area had gathered in large numbers on the streets near the Sabzi Mandi and raised slogans, downed shutters, demanding the guilty be immediately arrested.

Senior district and police officials led by District Magistrate R.P. Singh and Superintendent of Police Piyush Srivastava had to rush to the spot to pacify the angry residents.

District authorities had a hard time pacifying them and additional police force was sent to the area to ensure that the situation did not get out of control, an official informed IANS.

Senior police officers at the Director General of Police (DGP) office though refused to take calls.

Violence had erupted in the district on January 26, during the ‘Tiranga Yatra’ taken out by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) after which one person was killed and many injured.