On February 16, a Janata Dal United (JDU) leader was brutally murdered in district Samastipur, Bihar. His burnt body was recovered by the Police from a house located in a secluded place near Budhi Gandak river in village Vasudevpur, Kalyanpur Police station area. He was identified as 34-year-old JDU leader Mohammad Khaleel Alam Rizvi. The incident took place in village Hudiya, Mushrigharari police station area.
After the incident, a video went viral on social media in which it was presented as if the case was of a mob lynching. The incident was given a communal angle and it was projected that the murder was linked to killing a cow. Islamist and self-proclaimed journalist CJ Werleman also shared the video and alleged, “This Muslim man – Khalil Alan – pleads for his life, before a Hindu lynch mob murders him and burns his body in Bihar, yesterday.”
Contrary to the claims, Superintendent of Police, Samastipur denied any communal angle in the case. Speaking to OpIndia, he said, “There was no communal angle in the case. You might have found a video getting viral linked to cow slaughter. The motive behind making the video was if incase the accused got caught, they would make the video viral and give it a communal angle. The aim was to divert the attention from the actual reason behind the murder and gain some sympathy.”
The SP added that five people were involved in the murder, and they have arrested three of them. Raids are being conducted to arrest the rest of the two accused. He said an FIR was registered in the matter at Musrighari Police Station on February 17. In the complaint, it was mentioned that Khaleel was kidnapped, and calls were made by the accused of a ransom of Rs 2.75 lakhs. On receiving the complaint, the Police swiftly started raiding different locations. On February 18, the Police detained some suspects and interrogated them. They told the Police that they had killed Khaleel and buried his dead body. The police have also registered an FIR against the person who recorded the video and made it viral on social media.
During a press conference on the matter, the Police issued a press release to inform the actual details of the incident. The Police said in the press release that one of the accused who was arrested by the Police, Vipul Jha, had confessed that he, along with four others, had killed Khaleel on the night of February 16. Special Investigation Team has been constituted in the matter.
Some reports suggest Khaleel had taken money from Vipul and his friends in the name of getting them jobs. However, when Vipul and his friends started demanding money after they could not get a job, he started ignoring them. They kidnapped him to extort the money. Khaleel succumbed to injuries he had sustained during the beating in the hands of the accused.
