Ramgiri Maharaj faces multiple FIRs over remarks against Islam, Prophet

Mumbai: Several FIRs have been registered against religious leader Ramgiri Maharaj in Maharashtra for his alleged objectionable remarks against Prophet Mohammad and Islam, a police official said on Sunday.

The remarks were allegedly made recently by Ramgiri Maharaj at Shah Panchale village in Sinnar taluka of Nashik district during a religious event and its video went viral on social media, police had said earlier.

Ramgiri Maharaj has said that his remarks concerned the atrocities being committed against Hindus in Bangladesh.

Besides Mumbai and the districts of Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Pune and Thane, a case has also been registered against him at Jalgaon Jamod police station in Buldhana district, the official said.

Samiullah Khan, who identifies himself as an Islamic scholar, wrote on X, “FIR has been registered against the hatemonger for insulting the Prophet at Jalgaon Jamod police station in Maharashtra.” He demanded the immediate arrest of the Hindu seer.

“We will not sit silently on the attack on the dignity of our beloved Prophet Muhammad. If he is not arrested, peaceful protests will increase across the state and country. Modi government should answer why sensitive crime like insulting Prophet Muhammad is increasing in India,” he wrote in the post on X.

The religious leader faces FIR in Mumbai’s Mahim and Pydhonie police stations.

In Thane district, the Mumbra police on Saturday booked him for hurting religious feelings, promoting enmity between groups over religion, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, criminal intimidation and other charges on the complaint of Maulana Sajid-Ul-Rehman.

Amid the row over his comments, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had shared the dais with the religious leader during an event in Nashik district on Friday and called him a “saint”, while minister Girish Mahajan and former Ahmednagar MP Sujay Vikhe Patil touched his feet on stage.

Speaking at the function, Ramgiri Maharaj, the mahant of Sarla Bet Dham in Shrirampur taluka of Ahmednagar district, defended his controversial remarks, saying that they were in response to the atrocities being committed against Hindus in Bangladesh and that his objective was to unite members of the Hindu community.