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AGRA: From communal rage to romance, the Agra church attack incident of April 16 took a strange turn on Friday with the arrest of a Muslim youth who has reportedly admitted that he vandalized the place of worship because his love for a Christian girl went unrequited.

 Top sources in the police told TOI that Haider Ali has "confessed" that he let loose his anger at the St Mary’s Church because a Christian girl he loved, and who frequented the church, had failed to return his affection.

 The girl, whose name TOI is withholding, had in the fortnight before the attack suddenly stopped coming to the church. In frustration, Ali said he hit out at the statutes of Infant Jesus and Mother Mary.

 A senior IPS officer involved with investigation in the case said police had detained Ali, in his mid-20s, and that he lives in the city’s Sultanpura locality, near Eidgah colony.

"Haider has been detained on the basis of his mobile phone location," the officer said. "During interrogation, he confessed that he vandalized the church on April 16. The man claimed that he fell in love with a Christian girl who refused to marry him citing the difference in their faiths. He couldn’t bear the rejection of his lover and decided to take revenge in this way."

 According to Ali’s confessional statement to the cops, he met the girl, in her 20s, near the church some four months ago. Initially she agreed to be with him, but later broke the relationship saying her family would not accept the affair. She then stopped coming to the church altogether.

 Though Ali has claimed he was alone during the attack on the church, policemen have refused to buy his version as they feel he could not have wreaked all that destruction alone and in such a short time.

 SP (city) Sameer Saurabh, who said the police had indeed detained a man by the name of Haider Ali on Thursday, refused to give out further details. DIG Lakshmi Singh said police expect the case to be cracked soon.