A purported video of a "confession" by a man allegedly responsible for last week's attack on the Gorakhnath temple is doing the rounds on social media. The temple -- where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is the head priest -- is one of the key pilgrim centres in the state.
The 1-minute-49-second video of Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi, a 29-year-old IIT graduate, has not been verified by Uttar Pradesh government officials or released by any police unit.
It appears to show Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi having a conversation with two or three voices who are off camera -- there is speculation that they could be policemen.
The video appears to have been shot on the day of the incident, when the attacker was taken to hospital after his arrest.
In the video, the Murtaza Abbasi appears to justify the attack, blaming the government for the CAA-NRC protests and the Karnataka hijab issue, saying these issues affected him deeply and made him desperate.
In cellphone videos of the attack -- which took place around 7 pm last Sunday -- Abbasi is seen waving what appears to be a machete outside the Gorakhnath temple. He repeatedly lunges at the policemen and shopkeepers who try to catch him. A small crowd, including security guards, threw rocks at him and finally pinned him to the ground.
Murtaza Abbasi graduated from the prestigious IIT (Indian Institute of Technology)-Bombay in 2015, said the police.
The Uttar Pradesh government has said it is probing a terror angle to the attack and handed over the investigation to the Anti-Terror Squad of the UP police. This has led to a huge face-off between Akhilesh Yadav and the BJP.
At a press conference yesterday, the Samajwadi Party chief questioned the investigation into a terror angle and said the attacker needed attention for his mental health.
"His father said he has a psychiatric problem, dealing with bipolar issue, I feel we need to pay heed to that as well (for probe)... The BJP is a party that exaggerates," Mr Yadav said at the press conference.
BJP leaders hit back with a flurry of comments.
Cabinet minister and state BJP Chief Swatantra Dev Singh tweeted asking Mr. Yadav to send a list of mentally ill terrorists to the Chief Minister for "proper treatment".
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya called the SP chief's statement cheap and deplorable.
"Akhilesh Yadav Ji & Samajwadi Party has always been linked to terrorists. He took back cases during the 2013 terrorism attacks... the Gorakhnath temple attack is not ordinary, it was very serious. I condemn his attempts to boost the morale of terrorists Samajwadi Party will become 'Samapt' party," Mr Maurya told news agency ANI.
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