A mob of about 500 people allegedly attacked a Christian prayer house in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar district on Sunday and assaulted worshippers there, The New Indian Express reported.

Members of the mob shouted slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram”, the newspaper quoted people who had gathered for the Sunday Mass prayers as saying.

The alleged incident took place at Solanipuram Colony in Haridwar district’s Roorkee city around 10 am. The attackers reportedly accused missionaries of converting Hindus to Christianity in the garb of religious gatherings and philanthropy.

Roorkee Circle Officer Vivek Kumar said that the police have filed a case against 200 people after conducting preliminary investigations, the Hindustan Times reported. He added that an officer of the rank of inspector has been directed to investigate the case.

The police have invoked sections of the Indian Penal Code related to rioting, theft, trespassing and voluntarily causing hurt against the accused persons.

Saral Patel, the national social media convenor of the Congress, shared a video on Twitter that showed overturned and damaged chairs lying across the prayer room. He said that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was in the district when the attack took place, and questioned whether it had the sanction of the state government.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor asked when the Sangh Parivar will “unequivocally condemn such bigoted barbarism”. He added that in Kerala, the Sangh Parivar is “busy wooing Christian bishops”.

A controversy erupted in Kerala after Joseph Kallarangatt, a bishop of the Palai diocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, alleged on September 8 that “jihadis” were using various types of drugs to spoil non-Muslims. The Bharatiya Janata Party supported Kallarangatt and sought a law against “narcotic jihad”.

The Congress’ state vice-president Dhirendra Pratap condemned the “hooliganism and targeting of Christians”, the Hindustan Times reported. He alleged that the ruling BJP was fueling religious tensions in the state ahead of Assembly elections, which are expected to be held in February or March 2022.

On the other hand, the BJP’s state president Madan Kaushik alleged that the prayer house was conducting “suspicious gatherings.” He said that religious conversion would not be permitted in any way in the state.