Jealous husband plotted Jaranwala desecration: police

The desecration of the Holy Quran that sparked communal riots, burning of churches and Christians’ properties at Jaranwala tehsil of Punjab’s Faisalabad district on August 16 was part of a conspiracy hatched by a jealous husband to bring harm to his wife’s alleged lover.

Sharing details of the police investigation into the incident, Jaranwala Superintendent Police (SP) Bilal Silhari said P*, a Christian man, had discovered that his wife was cheating on him with one of his co-religionist Raja U*.

Also read Police say foreign hand behind Jaranwala incident

The SP said P first hired a contract killer, Allah Ditta, to eliminate his rival and gave him both money and a motorcycle.

However, when Ditta failed to kill U, he conceived a heinous plot together with his friends Dawood and Bobby to frame U in a blasphemy case, which carries a death sentence in the country.

As part of the plan, P first wrote a blasphemous letter and later desecrated pages from the Holy Quran that was left hanging from a rope in the middle of a lane. The official said the police have discovered the piece of rope on P’s indication and sent it for forensic examination.