Following the gruesome killing of 26-year-old Bajrang Dal activist Rinku Sharma in Mangolpuri area of West Delhi on Thursday, the deceased’s younger brother Manu Sharma made startling revelations during an exclusive conversation with OpIndia.
“The media reports, which are suggesting that Rinku Sharma’s death was due to birthday party and business-related disputes, are baseless. We don’t own any business. My deceased elder brother Rinku Sharma was a lab technician at the Balaji Medical Hospital. The story about the business dispute is false. I am requesting the media portals to stop spreading rumours about the incident,” he informed.
Manu Sharma emphasised, “When we went to the hospital, the accused were already there. When we took our brother to the Emergency ward, Zahid Ali tried to take out the knife stuck in Rinku’s body. But, when he failed to remove the knife, he fled the scene. Zahid’s uncle Tasuddin assaulted my brother’s friends, slapped them and even held my mother by the neck.” He also informed that Tasuddin works as a home guard in the police department, and was earlier posted in the local police station. He also said that Tasuddin also works as a police informer.
It may be noted that home guards work as an auxiliary Force to the Police in maintenance of law and order and internal security situations.
On being asked if the attack on Rinku Sharma was pre-planned, Manu added, “They have been opposing us from the start. We do ‘Hanuman Chalisa path’ every Tuesday and have been actively spearheading the campaign to collect funds for the Ram Janmabhoomi incident. When we took out a yatra on the occasion of Bhumi Pujan on August 5 last year, they began opposing us.”
They should cry like I am crying today, says Rinku’s mother
Manu Sharma had also revealed that he had received calls from the accused’s family, perhaps to threat him into silence. He also said that the frenzied mob that lynched Rinku Sharma comprised of 5 Muslim brothers, their children and nephews. “The accused had earlier pleaded us to forgive them and we did. We did not bother to file a case because we did not know the consequences. They had said that Rinku was like their son…” the victim’s mother said.
She further added, “Manu suffered injuries while trying to protect Rinku. No neighbour turned up for help as they were too scared to be hit by stones and sticks. Even his friends sustained injuries. Tasuddin held me by my neck and tried to choke me. Their family should cry like I am crying today.”
Rinku Sharma had nothing to do with scuffle at the restaurant
As per Rinku’s friend Akash, Rinku Sharma had nothing to do with the fight that broke out at the restaurant and the theories about Rinku Sharma being murdered because of the scuffle at the birthday party is completely false. The scuffle was actually between one accused Zahid and another friend of theirs, Sachin, that did not involve Rinku at all. Aakash’s statement also gives credence to the family’s version that Rinku was murdered not because of some fight at a birthday party but because the Muslim mob was enraged by Rinku chanting Jai Shree Ram and wanted to get back at him for collecting funds for Ram Mandir, Ayodhya.
They had planned to burn the entire family
Rinku Sharma’s mother made another sensational accusation, saying that the attackers had tried to burn the entire family alive. This can be ascertained from the fact that apart from attacking Rinku with sticks and knives, they had also tried to snatch a LPG cylinder from the kitchen. But she and her son prevented them from doing so, and therefore they were not able to set it on fire. This allegation is proved by the video of the incident, where it can be seen that she had resisted the attackers from taking out the cylinder from the kitchen, after which they had given up and proceeded to stab Rinku.
Rinku Sharma was a resident of Delhi’s Mangolpuri area. Besides rendering his voluntary service to the Hindu organisation, Rinku Sharma worked as a lab technician in a hospital in Paschim Vihar. He was brutally stabbed and murdered by a mob of 25-30 Muslims from his neighbourhood. The young activist is survived by his mother Radha Devi, father Ajay Sharma and brothers Ankit and Manu Sharma. The Delhi police have arrested five people so far, including Zahid, Mehtab, Tasuddin, Nasruddin, and Mohammed Islam.
