Loni thrashing incident: Local politician arrested by Ghaziabad crime branch

Ghaziabad: The crime branch of Ghaziabad police on Saturday arrested Ummed Pehalwan Idrisi, a local politician, from Delhi

Ghaziabad: The crime branch of Ghaziabad police on Saturday arrested Ummed Pehalwan Idrisi, a local politician, from Delhi. Police said he was on the run ever since they registered a suo motu FIR against him for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups following an incident wherein a 72-year-old Muslim man was thrashed and his beard was chopped off on June 5 in Ghaziabad’s Loni.

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Pehalwan will be produced before a Ghaziabad court on Monday, police said, adding that he is attached to the local wing of a political party.

.Pehalwan, along with the victim Abdul Samad, who is from Anupshahr in Bulandshahr district, had allegedly held a Facebook live session on June 7 in which he allegedly made comments which the police said were communal.

The victim, during the session, alleged that he was forced to chant slogans of “Jai Siya Ram” by the suspects, who beat him up and cut off his beard. However, both these points were not mentioned in his FIR lodged on June 7 at the Loni Border police station.

A video of the incident also went viral on social media in which Samad was purportedly seen getting thrashed by some men and his beard chopped off by them.

However, police investigation has so far revealed that there was no communal angle to the case as the suspects and the victim were allegedly known to each other and the dispute was personal. They said Samad allegedly gave the suspects amulets for luck but the ornament did not bring any to the suspects, due to which the suspects were allegedly angry with him.

The police registered an FIR against Pehalwan on June 16 at Loni Border police station while he conducted a second Facebook live session at Anupshahr along with Samad, members of his family and locals.

“Ever since then, he has been on the run. Our teams nabbed him from near LNJP Hospital in Delhi. We have brought him to Ghaziabad and he will be produced before the court Monday. During questioning, we will try to find out the reason behind his speeches and also if he acted at the behest of someone. We will also try to investigate if he delivered speeches on the narrative told to him by the victim or the victim made comments on his insistence,” said Atul Kumar Sonkar, circle officer of Loni.

Pehalwan faces an FIR under Indian Penal Code sections 153a (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 295a (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill will between classes), as well as provisions of the IT Act.

“It is only after his speeches that the issue was diverted on communal lines, but this was not the case, as revealed during investigation. It has come to light that the victim went to the house of the prime suspect (Pravesh Gujjar) along with another suspect (Saddam alias Bauna) on a two-wheeler. Calls were exchanged between them. However, the victim claimed in his complaint that the suspects were unidentified and forcibly took him in an auto,” said an officer attached to the case investigation, requesting anonymity.

The police said that during questioning, they will also try to find out people who gave shelter to Pehalwan and will also take legal action against them.

“I just helped the victim as he is old and he, along with several people, came to me seeking my help. I just narrated in the first live session what was told to me by the victim. I have come to know that an FIR has been filed against me,” Pehalwan had told HT on the night of June 16.

Two FIRs have been registered in the case. In the FIR lodged by the victim, as many eight suspects were arrested till Friday on different dates, all of whom got bail. Two of the suspects, however – Pravesh Gujjar and Himanshu Kumar – would stay in custody for now, the police had said Friday. While Gujjar will stay in remand till he is granted bail in another case of extortion, Himashu will be released on bail after his documentation is complete, HT had reported Friday.

Besides Pravesh and Hmanshu, the other arrested suspects in Samad’s case were identified as Adil Khan, Kallu Gujjar, Saddam alias Pauwa, Mohammad Intezar, Anas, Babu and Shavez.

The police on Saturday added that they arrested one more suspect, Umesh alias Polly, who was wanted in connection with the incident in which a different FIR was filed on June 7.

“One more suspect is being traced and he will also be arrested soon. With these two arrests, we have arrested ten persons so far in connection with the thrashing incident while Pehalwan was the only suspect named in the other FIR. He is also arrested,” the circle officer added.