Loni thrashing: Pehalwan sent to 14 days’ judicial custody, cops levy forgery charges on him

Ghaziabad: Politician Ummed Pehalwan Idrisi, arrested by the Ghaziabad police for allegedly making speeches on communal lines after the June 5 incident, wherein a 72-year-old Muslim man was thrashed by several suspects who chopped off his beard, was sent to 14 days’ judicial custody by a Ghaziabad court on Sunday

Ghaziabad: Politician Ummed Pehalwan Idrisi, arrested by the Ghaziabad police for allegedly making speeches on communal lines after the June 5 incident, wherein a 72-year-old Muslim man was thrashed by several suspects who chopped off his beard, was sent to 14 days’ judicial custody by a Ghaziabad court on Sunday.

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Pehalwan, after the June 5 incident, had conducted a Facebook live session with the 72-year-old victim, Abdul Samad, and another on June 16 from near Samad’s house at Anupshahr in Bulandshahr district. The Ghaziabad police lodged an FIR against him under several IPC sections including for “promoting enmity between different groups” and provisions of the IT Act.

Around June 14, a video of the incident went viral over the social media which purportedly showed the old man getting thrashed by several suspects, who later cut off his beard. The video’s audio was muted and instead, it purportedly had some music in the background.

The Ghaziabad police on Sunday said they added IPC sections of forgery against Pehalwan in the FIR against him before he was produced before the court on Sunday.

“The sections of forgery were added to investigation as it is suspected that Pehalwan was the one who doctored the video for personal gains. The speeches he made during the live sessions were intended to create rift between communities. However, our investigation has revealed that there was no communal angle to the case, but it was a personal dispute between the suspects and the victim,” said Atul Kumar Sonkar, circle officer of Ghaziabad’s Loni.

Officials conducting the investigation and who questioned Pehalwan after he was arrested Saturday said that more names have come to light and their involvement is being established after verification.

Meanwhile, Anees Chaudhary, the lawyer representing Pehalwan at the court, denied the allegations and said that the police have “no evidence” against his client.

“They added IPC sections for forgery against him while they have no piece of evidence so far that he manipulated the video or committed forgery. The police even did not demand any police custody of Pehalwan from the court. This shows that they have no evidence against him. Since the bail was rejected and he was sent to 14 days’ of judicial custody on Sunday, we will now apply for his bail at the sessions’ court,” he added.

The police, meanwhile, still do now have a copy of the original video of the purported incident, which was posted over social media, so far.

“Our investigation is on and our teams are putting in efforts to get to the original video. Pehalwan’s police custody was not sought as we have 14 days’ time to do so. So, we are conducting an investigation and, in the meantime, we will also apply for his custody from the court,” the circle officer added.

In connection with the thrashing incident, the police, based on the complaint filed by Samad, lodged an FIR and have arrested ten suspects so far while a second FIR was lodged against Twitter and several others, including some journalists, for allegedly promoting the video over Twitter. The social media company has so far declined comments over the issue.

The FIR in which Pehalwan was booked was the third in connection with the case, lodged at Loni Border police station.

Most of the ten suspects arrested in Samad’s FIR have been granted bail. He is attached to the local wing of a political party.