Three Muslim men were lynched in Gaya’s Diha village early Thursday morning allegedly under the suspicion of theft, leaving one dead and two others critical. The police have formed a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the murder in the alleged case of mob lynching in Bihar.
Police have so far filed two different FIRs in the case, and while they have said that no communal angle has arisen in their investigations, family members of the victims have described it as a “targeted killing.”
According to one version of events presented by Diha locals, they spotted a vehicle with six persons inside travelling through the village late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Ashish Bharti said the SIT is being led by an ASP rank officer. “We are probing all angles,” he said.
Villagers informed police that they stopped the group to verify their identity when they were reportedly shot upon. While three were apprehended the other three escaped.
The three injured were transferred to Gaya’s Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College, where Mohammed Babar, 28, was proclaimed dead and two others, Ruknuddin Alam, 32, and Mohammad Sajid, 28, were badly injured. They have now been transferred to PMCH in Patna.
The police have alleged that they discovered, explosives, ammunition and a knife from their vehicle. They also stated that two of the theft accused, Alam and Sajid, have criminal cases against them however Babar has none, reported Hindustan Times.
These claims of the villagers have been denied by the families of the accused. the families state that the three worked in a Kolkata factory and went to Diha hamlet to recruit labourers. The incident, according to the families, occurred outside the village where the victims had stepped out to relieve themselves.
The three are from Kurisarai village, which is around six kilometres from Diha.
According to SSP Gaya Ashish Bharti, the police filed two different FIRs on Friday. One is against the victims for theft and sections of the arms act, while, another is against 17 named and 25 unidentified persons based on the complaint of Sajid’s father Sabir Ali.
Local politicians and victims’ families blocked the Gaya-Patna road in Belaganj for hours on Thursday to demand the arrest of the culprits, as well as Rs 25 lakh in compensation and a government post for Babar’s family. The barrier was removed as the police declared an SIT.
“Where were the victims’ guns used during the purported firing? It is a deliberate attack and killing. “A bomb, a knife, and live ammunition were placed in the Vehicle to fabricate a tale of theft and to avoid prosecution for a violent attack and death,” father of Mohammed Junaid, another injured Mohammed Ruknuddin was quoted by Hindustan Times.
