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Man who attacked bus conductor sent to 14-day judicial custody
After his arrest, the accused opened fire on a police team when he was being taken for the weapon’s recovery. He got injured in retaliatory firing, police said.
Days after assaulting a bus conductor with a cleaver and later getting injured in retaliatory firing by police, a B.Tech student was on Sunday sent to 14 days of judicial custody by a court in Prayagraj.
Also, an Anti-Terrorist Squad (team) team from Varanasi questioned Laraib Hashmi, 20, at SRN Hospital here where he was undergoing treatment after receiving a bullet injury in his leg during a cross-firing with a police team on Friday night.
The Intelligence Bureau was also probing the incident as a video of Laraib surfaced on social media in which he could be heard raising religious slogans while taking responsibility of the assault as the bus conductor had ‘insulted’ Muslims.
Laraib hails from Hajiganj in Soraon of the trans-Ganga area and assaulted a bus conductor on Friday morning allegedly after a scuffle over bus fare. Laraib was nabbed by the police a few hours later.
The bus conductor, Harikesh Vishwakarma, received critical injuries and was undergoing treatment at SRN Hospital.
When Laraib was taken for the recovery of the cleaver used in the crime, he took out a pistol hidden at the spot and opened fire on the police team, police officials explained.
Police officials said Laraib’s father Mohd Yunus, who ran a poultry farm, and two siblings could not be found when police went looking for them at their home.
An ATS team on Saturday searched the house and seized a computer, pen drives, chips and five diaries from Laraib’s room and bank documents of his family members.
The officials said that it was possible that Laraib was in contact with some persons through the Internet who brainwashed him. However, no evidence of his association with any terrorist or radical organisation has emerged so far, they added.
They said that investigations till now indicated that Laraib was motivated after watching and listening to sermons of a religious leader in Pakistan. Laraib, in the viral video, spoke in Punjabi, they added
Police officials said that during questioning Laraib claimed that he disliked the bus conductor as he had heard him abusing others before. So, he took the cleaver from his father’s poultry farm to intimidate the conductor. However, he lost his cool when Harikesh demanded more fare from him. In a fit of rage, he assaulted the conductor and fled.
Also, Laraib has been suspended by his college. College authorities said Laraib had taken admission in the mechanical branch only this October. He regularly attended college but seldom interacted with other students.
DCP (trans-Yamuna) Abhinav Tyagi said some electronic gadgets and documents found at the house of the accused were being scanned. Primary investigations revealed that he used to watch religious sermons on YouTube.
