Loni thrashing incident: Ghaziabad police submit chargesheet against 11 suspects

The police said the 11 suspects include Pravesh Gujjar and Kallu Gujjar, against whom they recently levied provisions of the Gangster Act as well. During the incident on June 5, 72-year-old Abdul Samad was allegedly thrashed by several suspects, and they later chopped his beard with a pair of scissors.

The Ghaziabad police said on Sunday said they have filed the chargesheet against the 11 suspects booked in connection with the thrashing of a 72-year-old Muslim man in Loni and cutting his beard on June 5. The police, while levying sections of the Indian Penal Code, levied Section 295a (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) against the suspects in their chargesheet, submitted before the court on June 29.

During the incident on June 5, 72-year-old Abdul Samad was allegedly thrashed by several suspects, and they later chopped his beard with a pair of scissors. (Screengrab)

The police said the 11 suspects include Pravesh Gujjar and Kallu Gujjar, against whom they recently levied provisions of the Gangster Act as well. During the incident on June 5, 72-year-old Abdul Samad was allegedly thrashed by several suspects, and they later chopped his beard with a pair of scissors.

Nearly a week later, a video of the purported incident went viral on social media platforms. However, the police said their investigation later revealed the matter had resulted allegedly due to personal dispute and was not communal in nature, as men from both Hindu and Muslim communities were allegedly involved.

“In connection with the incident, we have filed a chargesheet before the court. Action under the Gangster Act was also initiated against Pravesh and Kallu as they have criminal cases against them. Now, it is up to the court to decide upon taking cognisance of the chargesheet,” said Iraj Raja, superintendent of police (rural), Ghaziabad.

The original FIR filed on June 7 on the complaint made by Samad was registered under respective IPC sections for wrongful confinement, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation and intentional insult to provoke breach of peace.

The police, in their chargesheet, added IPC sections for rioting as well as 295a against the suspects.

“Section 295a was levied as the act given way by the suspect hurt the sentiments of a particular community, though the incident itself was not communal in nature but resulted out of personal dispute. Later, when the video went viral, the incident was projected on communal lines. However, this was not the case. After we took Pravesh in police custody, we were able to recover a weapon, a pair of scissors, and the mobile phone on which the video was shot. He had deleted the original video. We are trying to get it recovered through forensics,” the SP added.

The chargesheet names nine other suspects – Polly alias Gulshan, Arif Ali, Adil Khan, Mushahid, Himanshu Kumar, Intezar, Saddam alias Bauna, Mohammad Shavez and Anas.

The police said they also filed a chargesheet against Pravesh in connection with an FIR lodged against him in a different case of extortion. He had secured interim bail in connection with the thrashing incident.

Parvinder Nagar, the lawyer representing Pravesh, said they will take due course of legal action against the charge sheet submitted by the police.

“We maintain that they filed the chargesheet only to invoke the Gangster Act against Pravesh. It is a condition that Gangster Act cannot be levied until a chargesheet is filed against the suspect. Section 295a of the IPC was added by the police during the investigation. However, all suspects were granted interim bail by the court. Now, we will face the chargesheet and take legal recourse,” he said.

In connection with the video, the police had registered another FIR on June 15 and named nine persons/entities including Twitter Inc and Twitter Communications India Private Limited, besides some authors, journalists and politicians.

“Three of those booked have recorded their statements before the police after notices were issued. For the rest, we issued notices on June 21 and the second notices were issued on July 2,” the SP said.

In a third FIR on June 16, the police booked Ummed Pehalwan Idrisi, a local politician from Loni, for allegedly making speeches in the video which the police said were communal in nature. Idrisi was arrested by the Ghaziabad crime branch on June 19 and action against him under the National Security Act was also initiated on June 29.

He is presently under judicial custody at Dasna jail.