Haryana Police has ruled out any communal angle in the murder of Haryana youth Asif, a bodybuilder by profession, on Sunday. As per reports, Asif, along with his two cousins was returning from his sister’s house when he was allegedly attacked by a group of men and was beaten to death.
However, soon after the report of his death poured in, some media houses claimed that he was forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ before being killed, thereby giving it a communal angle.
Kerala-based portal Maktoob Media claimed that Asif was ‘forced to chant Jai Shri Ram’ and referred to the religious slogan as ‘warcry of Hindu nationalist militants’. However, Maktoob Media offered no evidence to prove this fact.
In fact, even the initial statement of one of the witnesses said how they were attacked by a group where most men were known to them.
As can be heard, the witness makes no reference whatsoever about the crime being communal.
Now, the Haryana Police has also given a statement and ruled out any communal angle. According to Police, two cases have been filed against Asif alias Saddu and five against Pradeep alias Patwari, the prime accused in Asif murder case.
Initial investigation has revealed that Asif is a close aide of BSP leader from Sohna, Javed Ahmed. He is a relative of Congress MLA from Nuh, Chaudhary Aftab Ahmed. Pradeep is a close aide of local BJP leader, Bhalla, who is in turn a close aide of BJP’s Sohna MLA Kanwar Sanjay Singh.
In the village, there are two caste-based groups, one of Zakir caste led by Asif and other of Gurjar caste led by Pradeep. Each have 15-20 members each. About 20 days back, Asif’s group had beaten up members of Pradeep’s group and to avenge the same, Pradeep’s group attacked Asif.
