Imam of Varanasi mosque shot dead

Varanasi: An Imam of a mosque was on Sunday gunned down near Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth University premises in Varanasi by some unidentified men riding a motorcycle.

The 70-year-old cleric, Shakeel Ahmad, was returning to Shota Bhasath mosque when the assailants shot at him from close range injuring him critically, police said.

He was rushed to the district hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

Shakeel had been Pesh Imam of the Shota Bhasath mosque for several years, they said.

“A case had been registered but the motive behind the cleric's murder was not immediately clear,” police said.