Meerut: Misleading videos shared on social media basically end up giving the wrong signal and spreading rumors across all social media platforms.
Such is the recent case reported from UP’s Shamli district where a daring mob is alleged to have lynched a man to death after pulling him out of the Police van, while the policemen escorting the man remained “mute spectators”.
The man identified as Rajender Singh aged around 30 was being escorted in the police van after he was arrested for abusing some locals in an inebriated state but his body was found two hours later after the whole incident.
Taking action in the case, the two policemen who were escorting him were suspended and a departmental inquiry was ordered against them.
According to reports, the incident took place in Jhinjana area of Shamli on Monday evening.
The lynched man’s brother, Ankit has now filed a case against the six accused persons under IPC sections 302 (murder), 147(rioting) and 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon).
The Police said one of the six accused was arrested on Tuesday.
According to Ankit’s complaint, Rajender was “mercilessly beaten up by these youths with rods and lathis which led to his death.”
However, the senior police officers said, the video was “misleading” and does not show the complete picture.
Rajender was a habitual drunkard and that he had gotten into a tiff with some local youths in an inebriated state after which the police was called.
But when the police was escorting him, Rajender started abusing the youths again which escalated the issue.
Speaking with TOI, the superintendent of police (SP) Shamli Ajay Kumar said: “The video is misleading. He was a drunkard and locals were troubled by his behaviour. When policemen reached there and tried to put him into the vehicle, he resisted and even abused everyone. After that local youths hit him and he fell out of the vehicle. But, he did not die at that time as is being portrayed.
“After gaining consciousness, he ran away. The policemen also returned when they could not trace him. It was two hours later that we got information about his death. There are conflicting claims. His relatives say he was beaten to death, while others say that he had climbed the roof and fell off. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination and the reason will come out soon,” the SP added.
He further said: “The two policemen have been suspended for dereliction of duty. A departmental inquiry has also been set up against head constable Sunil Singh and constable Brajveer Singh. Usually, there are four policemen in the PRV. But, due to staff shortage, there were only two. Still, they could have asked for force to save the man.”