Communal tension flared up in Aligarh after a youth, who was lynched on suspicion of theft, died on way to hospital.

Members of both Hindu and Muslim communities indulged in heavy brick-batting and also staged demonstrations. Markets were also forcibly closed by an agitated mob which created ruckus.

Later senior officers, including IG Aligarh Range Shalabh Mathur, the SSP Aligarh along with police force from at least a dozen police stations reached the spot and somehow defused the situation by registering a murder case in the matter and later also took six persons in custody.

A heavy police force is still camping in the area to avert any untoward incident.

The victim was laid to rest amidst deployment of heavy force.

Reports said that in Aligarh city’s busiest Mamu Bhanja locality, some people caught a youth on the suspicion that he was a thief. The youth was allegedly trying to enter the house of a cloth merchant Mukesh Chandra Mittal on Tuesday night.  Mittal has a shop on the ground floor of his residence in Mamu Bhanja locality and lives with his family on the upper floor, the way to which is through a fence next to the shop.  On Tuesday, due to it being a weekly closure day, Mittal and his family members were at home. At night, Rahul, an acquaintance of Mittal’s son Rohit, came to meet him and left the door open. He claimed that when he was returning, he saw a youth trying to enter the house for theft so they nabbed and thrashed him.

On being informed by some residents, the police reached the spot and the youth was taken to the district hospital in a critical condition but the doctors pronounced him dead.

The news of the death of the victim, identified as Mohammed Farid, spread like a wild wire. Till morning, the video of the incident also went viral and this worsened the situation. Several leaders from the opposition parties gathered outside the hospital, demanding that a case be registered and the accused be arrested.

In the meantime, the family members and several neighbours of Farid also reached the hospital and staged a demonstration. Soon after receiving information about the demonstration, senior officers reached the hospital with heavy police force.

The situation took an ugly turn when the traders belonging to the other community learnt about the demonstration and they also gathered, forcibly got the market closed and reached the hospital demanding that a case of theft be registered against Farid for entering into a house.

Later both the sides came to a head resulting in heavy stone-pelting and ruckus in the area.

The senior officers somehow chased away the troublemakers and convinced the victim’s family that a case of murder would be registered against those involved in the brutal attack of Farid on suspicion of theft and they would be arrested. They also got a case registered and took six of  the accused in custody after which the family allowed the burial of the body of the victim.

Sources said that even after the situation became normal, the markets of most areas of the old city remained closed. The shutters of the shops were not lifted even in the Hindu-dominated areas.

Looking at the atmosphere of the city, the sector scheme has been implemented and the city has been divided into eight sectors. Magistrates and circle officers have been deployed in each sector. and they will remain active 24 hours to deal with any situation. One company of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and more than half a dozen PAC companies have also been deployed to avert any untoward incident.

SP (City) Mrigank Shekhar Pathak said that a youth, who entered the house of a cloth merchant in Mamu Bhanja locality, was thrashed on the suspicion of theft. He said the youth died while being taken to the hospital. He said the entire matter was being investigated and action would be taken by registering a case on the basis of the complaint.

According to a complaint filed by the victim’s family, Farid was returning home from work when he was mobbed and thrashed by some residents on Tuesday night in the Mamu Bhanja locality over suspicion of theft.

Meanwhile, according to IG Aligarh Range Shalabh Mathur, a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code had been registered against half a dozen locals for beating a person to death. The IG confirmed that six people had been arrested on the basis of a complaint filed at Gandhi Nagar Park police station in Aligarh.