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Ghaziabad YouTuber attack: CCTV footage surfaces, shows 2 men in helmet stabbing Wastik
Ghaziabad: A purported footage of a CCTV camera installed at YouTuber Saleem Wastik’s office in Loni has surfaced on social media, showing how two men in helmets entered his office on February 27 and stabbed him
Ghaziabad: A purported footage of a CCTV camera installed at YouTuber Saleem Wastik’s office in Loni has surfaced on social media, showing how two men in helmets entered his office on February 27 and stabbed him.
The police said that the footage on social media is of the February 27 attack. HT could not independently verify the footage’s authenticity.
Wastik, who was allegedly stabbed by two unidentified suspects at his office-cum-residence at Ali Garden in Loni, remains in a critical condition in a Delhi hospital. Both suspects have been killed in police encounters.
The audio-video footage, about 3.39 minutes long, shows two men entering his office while a man on a sofa asks what they want. The footage shows suspects replying that they wanted to talk, but took positions, with one attacker pulling a blade from his jacket while the other grabbed the victim. One of the attackers inflicts multiple injuries to the victim’s neck, who shouts for help. In between, the other assailants close the office’s glass door.
The attack continued for several minutes, and both suspects fled on a bike. “The two suspects were not known or related to Wastik. They arrived to assault him in his office, as they were angered by the videos he shot and his religious views. The video is from a CCTV camera installed in Wastik’s office and is part of the probe,” Surendra Nath Tiwary, DCP (rural zone), told HT.
A day after the attack, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the police to take “strict action”.
Later, the police identified the two assailants as Zeeshan Ali, 25, and his elder brother, Gulfam Ali, 27,
both residents of Khoda, Ghaziabad, and natives of Amroha district.
Zeeshan was gunned down in an encounter in Loni on March 1, while Gulfam was also killed in another encounter near Hindon road on March 3. The police have maintained that during both encounters, the suspects fired multiple shots at the police.
Meanwhile, the accused father, Buniyad Ali, said his sons could have been sent to jail. “Those two killed were my sons. They were carpenters. Gulfam has a wife and two minor children, while Zeeshan is unmarried. In my opinion, it was a ‘junooni’ (intense passion or obsession) incident, if it was true. Gulfam had been staying in Khoda since 2013, while Zeeshan came about five years ago. If I had suspected their act beforehand, I myself would have taught them a lesson that even the police could not have,” Buniyad told mediapersons at Hindon mortuary on Wednesday.
“They could have been sent to jail instead of being killed in the encounter. We have no criminal history in our family from the time of my grandfather to the present generation,” he added.
