LUCKNOW, April 3 -- A mosque was demolished by the district administration in the Bakshi Ka Talab (BKT) area of the state capital early Thursday morning following an order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court, officials said. The demolition was carried out at around 4am in Asti village, where a team led by senior administrative officials, including the additional district magistrate (ADM) and sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), arrived with three bulldozers. The structure was razed within an hour, after which debris was cleared from the site. Heavy security arrangements were in place, with at least two companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and local police deployed to maintain law and order. Local residents claimed that the mosque had existed for nearly six decades. However, the administration maintained that the structure had been built on government land and was an encroachment. Officials said the legal dispute dates back to 2024, when the administration first filed a petition in a tehsildar court seeking removal of the structure. In 2025, the court ordered demolition of the mosque and imposed a fine of Rs.36,000. The mosque committee challenged the order before the ADM court, but the plea was dismissed. The matter was then taken to the high court, which on March 26 upheld the earlier orders and directed authorities to remove the structure. Following the court's directive, the administration carried out the demolition under tight security, officials added....