New Delhi: Eleven people were arrested in connection with the death of a person who was assaulted last week on suspicion of theft.
Tabrez Ansari, 24, was beaten up by locals for hours on June 18 in Saraikela Kharsawan and arrested. He succumbed to injuries on Saturday.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has also been set up to look into the death of Ansari, who was declared "brought dead" by doctors at the Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur on June 22, said the police.
Two police personnel were suspended in connection with the incident. They were officers-in-charge of Kharaswan and Sini police stations, they said.
The incident came to light after several videos of the assault went viral on social media. In one of the clips, Ansari is seen being beaten with a wooden stick. At the end of another video, he is shown being forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’.
Saraikela Kharsawan Superintendent of Police Karthik S on Monday said that authorities have taken the incident very seriously.
“We have arrested three people already and are looking for others,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying. “An internal inquiry is underway on the part of negligence by police and action will be taken. A probe is being done on the level of the District Collector into the role of the jail administration.”
Ansari’s family have arrested police negligence in providing him treatment after he was beaten up by the locals. The kin want that those responsible to be tried under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They have also demand compensation and a government job for his wife.
Karthik said that on June 17, Ansari and two others had entered a house in Seraikela village at night allegedly with an intention to commit theft.
However, the occupants of the house woke up and raised an alarm, following which villagers caught hold of Ansari and "manhandled" him, while his accomplices managed to flee, he told reporters.
Ansari was found to be in possession of valuables, which he and and his associates had allegedly stolen from other villages, the officer said.
The police reached the spot in the morning and took Ansari to jail on the basis of a complaint from villagers, after administering first aid to him.
However, when his condition deteriorated in jail on the same day, he was taken to the Sadar Hospital, where he was diagnosed with multiple injuries, the SP said. Ansari was subsequently referred to the Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur.
Earlier, the police had said Ansari was tied to a pole and beaten up with sticks through the night.
The video in question, circulated widely on social media platforms, was handed over to the police by Ansari's family members and it was being investigated, the SP said.
"We are looking into all angles. Ansari's family members mentioned about some unidentified miscreants in their complaint. Based on that, we have already arrested three persons, including a man named Papu Mandal," he added.
Ansari's wife, Shaista Praveen, has accused the police of taking the deceased to jail first, instead of a hospital. "The police should have taken him to a hospital, instead of arresting him and sending him to jail," Praveen, who recently got married to Ansari, has said in her complaint.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress said it had formed a seven-member team to probe the incident. "We demand Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the family of the victim and a job for his wife," a Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) member said.
The incident has triggered angry reactions from various political parties across the country.
"Tabrez Ansari was lynched to death in BJP-ruled Jharkhand. A Hindu mob thrashed him ruthlessly because he refused to chant 'Jai Sri Ram'. Is this NDA 2.0's New India? Yeh kaunsa tareeka hai sabka vishwas jeetnay ka (what kind of a process is this to win everyone's trust?," Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said in a tweet.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi said such incidents now followed a familiar pattern.
"This is the pattern with almost all lynchings. First, a Muslim is murdered by cow lovers. Then the most ridiculous excuses begin: a 'suspicion' of beef possession, theft, smuggling & love jihad. So much for sabka vishwas when we can be killed over mere 'suspicions'," he said in a tweet.
The incident also found mention in the Rajya Sabha, when senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said Jharkhand had become a "lynching factory".
"Dalits and Muslims are being killed there every week. Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, we are with you in the fight of 'sabka saath sabka vikas', but it should be there for people to see it. We cannot see it anywhere," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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