Tension prevails in the Pasrama village of Gopalganj, Bihar after a Hindu youth was lynched to death by a Muslim mob in the neighbouring Basdila village, January 27.
The deceased has been identified as Ankit Kumar, a resident of Pasrama village under the city police station limits of Gopalganj. According to the report, Ankit was going to the nearby market when he saw his neighbour Hariom being beaten beaten by the goons near the Basdia village mosque.
It’s been learnt that it was only when Ankit tried to save Hariom from the Muslim mob when he was strangled to death; two other friends of his also sustained serious injuries in the attack while Hariom has been referred to Gorakhpur.
According to the reports, it all started when some Muslim youths from the neighbouring Basdila village caught up in a fight with Hariom and associates, following which the local Panchayat asked both sides to restrain.
However, on the next day, when Hariom was returning back from the Newton Library in the city, he was brutally assaulted; it was then that Ankit and two other youths of his village were caught up in the assault.
Ankit and Hariom were rushed to the Sadar hospital, where Ankit was declared brought dead while Hariom was immediately referred to Gorakhpur, where he was battling for life in ICU.
Notably, stones were also pelted from the same locality when the villagers were on their way to protest against the brutal murder on January 28 (Saturday morning); a few policemen were also reportedly injured in the pelting, after which police shot some rounds to keep law and order in place.
The protesting villagers had also refused to cremate Ankit’s body, following which police had twice lathi-charge the protestors and pressurised the villagers to cremate the body.
Though the police and the local media maintained that the murder between the youths was linked to the minor scuffle between them during the cricket match, the villagers alleged that the communal hatred against the Hindus drove them to kill Ankit in the first place.
Ankit was a cheerful boy; he had nothing to do with the cricket match fight, but the Muslim goons were resilient to kill him, said one of Ankit’s cousin. Ankit was also the sole breadwinner of the family, he added.
Ankit was an NCC cadet, and his father had a prolonged illness as well; he was the one, who was looking after his four sisters and younger brother, but they killed them brutally; what was his fault?, said a neighbour.
In this whole incident, the district police are said to have arrested six persons, including the women who were helping the accused, though the villagers are in total disbelief at the claims made by police.
“They (police) are saying that Ankit was killed by stabbing, however this is not the truth, they were beaten by lathis and Ankit was particularly strangled to death after beaten by wood sticks, this whole story is made up for cover the real incident in which goons were called to settle the scores”, said one of the villagers of Parsama village.
It is to be noted that this is not the first time that a communal scuffle has taken place in this region of Bihar; earlier, in a similar kind of incident, a Hindu youth had been brutally killed in broad daylight in the district headquarter of the neighbouring Saaran District.
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