With a knife tucked in his waist, a middle-aged man laid down a rug in the middle of the road and started offering namaz on Friday evening, triggering a traffic jam outside UP secretariat while CM Yogi was presiding over a meeting. He also raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The man was later identified as Rafiq Ahmed, a local Muslim cleric, who was arrested late night after Lucknow’s senior superintendent of police Kalanidhi Naithani ordered the registration of an FIR against him for creating a nuisance and blocking the road.

The Lucknow police chief took the matter seriously and suspended a couple of constables present at the scene for letting the man continue his prayers on the road.

The CM’s secretariat is a high-security building with a large contingent of a police force. But neither did they or the traffic police dragged their feet as the traffic snarl outside the CM’s secretariat continued for around 20 minutes

“The police personnel deployed at the CM’s secretariat said that the person started offering namaz, so they did not take any action or tried to forcibly remove him from the busy road,” Hazratganj circle officer Abhay Mishra confirmed

He added that the security around the area has been tightened to prevent a repeat any such incident.