No hate crime angle in Delhi’s Naraina killing: Police

After Kapil Mishra’s tweet attributing the murder to a certain community, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Ghanshyam Bansal said that the incident is being a given communal colour on social media--which is baseless.

Following Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra’s post on social media attributing a murder reported in Naraina on March 18 to a certain community, Delhi Police on Sunday clarified that there was no communal motive behind the murder.

On March 18, Gurjar had gone a movie hall in Naraina with his friends around 9.30pm. His motorcycle touched one of the paan shop salesmen at the entrance of the theatre’s complex, which led to a quarrel between Gurjar and paan shopkeepers. (Representative image)

On Sunday, Mishra tweeted that watching the video of Shiva Gurjar’s murder was painful, and added that it had been committed in a certain manner, attributing it to a particular community. He then wrote, “complete investigation and justice are important”.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Ghanshyam Bansal said that the incident is being a given communal colour on social media--which is baseless.

“Both victim and the perpetrators belong to the same community. The case was investigated with sincerity and all the perpetrators were arrested within 12 hours of the crime being committed. The incident must be viewed as an offence as it is,” the DCP said in a video message.

On March 18, Gurjar had gone a movie hall in Naraina with his friends around 9.30pm. His motorcycle touched one of the paan shop salesmen at the entrance of the theatre’s complex, which led to a quarrel between Gurjar and paan shopkeepers. One of the perpetrators, later identified as a minor, stabbed Gurjar in the chest leading to his death.

Bansal said that the perpetrators have been identified as Dharmender Rai (52), Sachin Rai (22), Ramanuj Rai (22) and Vakil (23), all residents of Naraina.