A day after Hindu Vahini activists battered Ghulam Mohammad (59) to death for his alleged role in facilitating the escape of an inter-faith couple in Pahasu village of Bulandshahr, the police arrested three activists of the outfit on Wednesday.
While none of the arrested were named in the FIR, leaders of the Hindu outfit cried foul charging the police of framing them to defuse tension in the area.
However, SSP Bulandshahr, Muniraj G said that the police have arrested three accused in the incident and investigation was underway.
A total of six people were named in the FIR lodged by the deceased’s son. The top cop said that the motive behind the attack could only be ascertained after the prime accused Gajendra Singh was arrested.
“We are trying to verify if Ghulam Mohammad’s murder has any connection to the case of abduction of a girl lodged against Yusuf of Sohi village. Yusuf has no relation with Mohammad. So far, the police have not found any evidence indicating the involvement of any saffron leaders in the attack,” DIG (Meerut Range) KS Emmanuel said on Wednesday giving a clean chit to the Hindu outfit.
On April 27, Yusuf (22) of Sohi village eloped with an 18-year-old Hindu girl from neighbouring Fazalpur village. There were reports thatGhulam Mohammad helped the inter-faith couple to elope.
On Tuesday, some people apprehended Mohammad in a mango orchard and battered him to death for his refusal to part with information about the girl and Yusuf. Ghulam’s son Yaseen alleged that while moving towards the orchard to meet his father, he saw Gajendra Singh of his vollage and six others leaving the orchard on motorcycles. He said that later he found his father lying injured there and took him to a hospital with the help of locals, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
later, Yaseen’s elder brother Wakeel got an FIR lodged accusing Gajendra Singh and six unidentified persons from the Hindu outfit of killing their father. Additional forces have been deployed at Sohi, which has a dominant Hindu population.