A Hindu litigant in the dispute pertaining to the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi said on Saturday that he and his family were withdrawing from all cases pertaining to the matter, PTI reported.

The litigant, Jitendra Singh Visen, said: “I and my family [wife Kiran Singh and niece Rakhi Singh] are withdrawing from all Gyanvapi-related cases that we had filed in the interest of the country and religion in various courts.”

Rakhi Singh was among five Hindu women who had filed a petition seeking rights to worship inside the mosque compound. They had claimed that an image of Hindu deity Shringar Gauri exists at the mosque.

In May last year, an oval-shaped object was found during a survey of the mosque premises ordered by a Varanasi civil court. The Hindu litigants in the case claimed that the object was a shivling – a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva. However, the caretaker committee of the mosque claimed the object was a defunct fountainhead in the wazu khana, or ablution tank.

Visen said on Saturday that he and his family had been facing harassment from several quarters, including from the Hindu side. “In such a situation, due to limited strength and resources, I cannot fight this battle for ‘dharma’ [righteousness] anymore and that’s why I am leaving this,” he said.

Visen added: “Perhaps the biggest mistake I made in my life was by starting this ‘dharmayudh’ [holy war]. This society is only with those who mislead by playing gimmicks in the name of religion.”

Visen is the president of an organisation called the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh, and his wife Kiran Singh is its international general secretary