Muslim man assaulted: New video of victim before thrashing incident emerges, cops make more arrests

The Ghaziabad incident in which a 72-year-old man was assaulted and his beard cut off has turned murkier with the emergence of a new video, which suggests that the victim knew his attackers

The Ghaziabad incident in which a 72-year-old man was assaulted and his beard cut off has turned murkier with the emergence of a new video, which suggests that the victim knew his attackers. Police said their investigation found inconsistencies in the victim’s statement and the root of the matter was a monetary dispute between two groups.

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Police have so far arrested nine people in the incident. The main actors in the case, they said, were Pravesh Gujjar of Loni, in whose house the assault took place, Intezar, the victim Abdul Samad and local politician Ummed Pehalwan.

Police said Intezar owed Gujjar money.

“Samad used to sell amulets that were claimed to have magical powers. Intezar hoped to use Samad’s help to influence Gujjar. He sent Samad to Gujjar’s house with his brother-in-law Saddam on a scooter on June 5,” said a senior police officer, who did not wish to be named. “But Gujjar was wise to Samad’s act and forced him to confess on video that he was there at Intezar’s behest.”

HT has seen the video, in which Samad is seen with his beard intact, but cannot independently verify its authenticity.

The officer quoted above said later, Gujjar called Intezar to his home and confronted him with the video. “Cornered, Intezar turned on Samad and the two groups assaulted him, and a man named Kallu Gujjar cut off Samad’s beard,” he said.

The video of the assault, with its audio overwritten with music, went viral online on Monday and allegations were raised that the victim was forced to chant “Jai Siya Ram”. Police said Samad had got an FIR lodged on June 7 at the Loni police station, in which he had stated that he did not know his attackers.

The FIR also stated that the victim was abducted from Loni in an autorickshaw by the driver and a few fellow passengers.

On Thursday, police arrested Intezaar and Saddam, and four other persons who they identified by their first names as Himanshu, Anas, Babu and Shavez.

“We have call records that showed that Intezar, Gujjar and Samad were in touch for a long time, including on June 5,” said Atul Kumar Sonkar, circle officer of Loni.

Meanwhile, another video surfaced on Thursday in which Saddam is purportedly heard saying, “I took Samad to Gujjar’s house. Gujjar called more people when he came to know that Intezar had roped him (Samad) in.... Thereafter, Samad was thrashed. I was at Gujjar’s house during the incident, and it was Kallu Gujjar who chopped off the beard.”

HT cannot vouch for the authenticity of the video

Gujjar was arrested earlier as part of a June 10 extortion case that Intezar had lodged against him. Gujjar has since been in judicial custody.

“We will seek his police custody now as he is yet to be questioned in connection with the assault case,” said Sonkar.

The “Jai Siya Ram” allegation was raised by Samad during a live video with politician Pehalwan on June 7. Police said this led to the incident being labelled “communal”.

Since then, police lodged three more FIRs -- one against Twitter, the platform where the video was shared, a second one against journalists who shared it, and one against Pehalwan.

Samad’s family maintains that he was not into selling amulets and that he did not know the suspects.

Samad’s son Babbu said, “Once my father recovers from his injuries, we will talk about the details and controversies. We do not have a copy of Pehalwan’s video. We have nothing to say about the claims and counterclaims.”

On Thursday, the Bulandshahr police also registered an FIR against five identified persons and about 90-100 unidentified people for violating the Covid-19 curfew protocols during Pehalwan’s live video.