2022 saw several brutal crimes being unleashed by barbarians. From the brutal beheading of Kanhaiya Lal and his killers making the beheading video and their chilling confession viral, to the sordid saga where 10 people were burnt alive in Bengal and Ankita Bhandari being murdered by BJP leader’s resort owner in Himachal Pradesh, several such crimes shook the conscience of the nation in this past year.
Here, OpIndia compiles 10 such brutal cases that have left an indelible mark on the nation.
1. Kanhaiya Lal and Umesh Kohle
Former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s alleged ‘blasphemous’ remark about Prophet Muhammad on May 26 sparked outrage amongst Islamists not just in India but around the world. Her decision to merely quote an excerpt from the Islamic Hadith during a TV show proved catastrophic for her political career and mental peace after AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair dog-whistled about her comments to Islamists.
This set off a series of incidents that culminated into a constant barrage of threats at Sharma and attacks on those who dared to speak out in her support, many of which turned out to be extremely brutal.
On June 28, a Hindu man named Kanhaiya Lal was brutally murdered by Jihadis in Udaipur, Rajasthan, over an alleged post in support of Nupur Sharma.
His neighbour Nazim filed a complaint against Kanhaiya Lal, following which he was arrested. Nazim also leaked Kanhaiya Lal’s number, photograph, and address to his community groups. After being released on bail, he continued to receive threats. The murderers had, after murdering Kanhaiya Lal, make the video of his beheading viral. Along with this video, they also released a confession video holding a blood-soaked knife, boasting about avenging the perceived insult to the Prophet of Islam.
While Kanhaiya Lal was murdered on 28th June, on the night of 22nd June 2022, Chemist Umesh Kolhe was killed by some Islamists in Amravati of Maharashtra for allegedly sharing a social media post supporting former Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Dr Yusuf Khan, Kolhe’s close friend, shared his social media post with another group called Rahebariya and informed his friends Sheikh Irrfan and others, and created hatred in their minds for Umesh Kolhe, resulting in the attack that led to his death.
Several other people were also murdered or brutally assaulted by Jihadis for extending support to Nupur Sharma. Here is our article detailing those incidents.
2. Kishan Bharwad murder
On January 25, 2022, Kishan Bharwad, a Dhandhuka (Ahmedabad) youth, was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants for a social media post about Prophet Muhammad. Notably, Islamists take offence if someone publishes an image of the Prophet Muhammad, and it is considered an act of blasphemy.
Islamists reached the Police station in the form of a large mob and pressured the Police to take action against Kishan. When Kishan reached the Police station, he was beaten up by the mob. His father alleged some Police personnel also joined the mob to beat him. Kishan was made to apologise.
Just like in the case of Kanhaiya Lal, things did not calm down even after Kishan’s apology. He was later arrested by the Police under Islamist pressure. On the same day, Kishan’s wife gave birth to a daughter. Kishan, who would have been proud to become the father of a baby girl, never got a chance to see her.
A day later, his father arranged bail for him, and Kishan was sent away to live with his uncle for a few days. In desperation to see his little child, Kishan left his uncle’s house with his cousin on a bike to another uncle’s house. At 4 PM, he came back and at 5:30 PM, he was assassinated by the Islamists.
Investigation revealed a racket led by a maulvi to murder anyone who allegedly commits blasphemy. Multiple arrests were made, and the matter is sub-judice.
During the investigation, shocking revelations came to the fore. It was reported that investigating agencies uncovered profiles of as many as 26 people including Yati Narsinghanand of Dasna temple in Ghaziabad and Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, formerly known as Wasim Rizvi.
3. Ankita Singh burnt alive by Shahrukh
On August 23, Ankita Kumari was set ablaze by her stalker neighbour identified as Shahrukh Hussain and his friend Naeem in Dumka, Jharkhand. She died in the hospital while receiving treatment for her injuries on August 28.
Because of one-sided “love”, Shahrukh Hussain had torched Ankita alive by pouring petrol on her. The only mistake of Ankita Kumari, a student studying in class 12, was that she did not want to talk to Shahrukh, after which the man torched her.
The horrific attack on Ankita happened on August 23 morning in Dhumka in Jharkhand. Ankita had told the police in a critical state that her neighbour, Shahrukh, used to harass her every day. He used to approach her and seek her friendship. He had also obtained her phone number and used to call her repeatedly, asking her for friendship. When Ankita chastised him for not stopping, he threatened to kill her.
Ankita informed her father of this on Monday. When she woke up the next morning, her body was in flames as she ran up to family members who attempted to extinguish the fire. Her family then hurried her to the hospital. It was found in the hospital that Ankita had suffered severe burns. It turned out that Shahrukh went to Ankita’s house on Tuesday morning, poured petrol on Ankita through a window when she was asleep in her bed and torched her, and then fled from the scene.
In the hospital, Ankita named Shahrukh as the culprit. After taking Ankita and her family members’ statements, police arrested Shahrukh the same day.
Following the murder, new revelations were made. It was reported that the second accused in the case, identified as Mohammed Naeem, was linked to a group indulged in Grooming Jihad. Advocate Priya Dutt told Hindi daily Dainik Jagran that there is an organization active in Dumka that is allegedly targeting Hindu girls. The Muslim men linked to the group trap young Hindu girls in love affairs and convert them to Islam on the pretext of marriage and happy life. Advocate Dutt lives in the same area.
A minor Hindu girl who was harassed and stalked by Naeem has come forward to tell her shocking story. The girl is a resident of the Kepatpada area in Dumka. She said when she used to go for coaching in 2021, Naeem not only molested her but also threatened her that if she refused his advances, he would harm her family. She further added that he continued to force her to give him her phone number.
The girl has further stated that she was once forcibly taken by Naeem to an unknown place. He took her to a room and imprisoned her. During that time, he pressured her to convert and marry. When she refused, he threatened to kill her and said he would sell her to his brother, who lives in Dubai.
4. 10 burnt to death in Birbhum after TMC leader murder
On March 21 at 8:20 p.m., a bombing at the Bogtui crossroads on NH-114A claimed the life of Bhadu Sheikh, the deputy chief of the nearby TMC-controlled Barshal gram panchayat. According to the charge sheet, Hossain then ordered a counter-assault in response to this. Bhadu Sheikh was rushed to the Rampurhat hospital, where he was declared dead. Hossain was also seen at that hospital, after Sheikh was taken there. Charges in two separate crimes are framed by the CBI but at the same time, CBI has underlined that both incidents are interlinked. Four people are accused in the Bhadu Sheikh murder case while 18 others including Anarul Hossain are accused in the violence that erupted after Sheikh’s murder.
Ten persons were killed in this counter-attack ordered by the TMC leader, when a dozen houses were burnt down. The miscreants had locked the houses from outside before torching them, leaving no room for the occupants to flee.
On 25th March 2022, the Calcutta High Court ordered the CBI probe of the Birbhum killings and Sheikh’s murder. CBI has mentioned in its charge sheet that Rivalry between Sheikh and his colleagues over dubious land deals, fraudulent companies, and share of extortion money led to Sheikh’s murder. The charge sheet cites eyewitness statements to support its claim that Hossain directed the crowd to attack Sona Sheikh and Fatik Sheikh’s residences, expressly instructing the mob that no one should be spared.
The residences of Sona Sheikh and Fatik Sheikh were targeted in a section of Bogtui village, just 150 metres from the busy Rampurhat town, and fuel was transported there from a nearby store in an e-rickshaw whose driver the CBI had detained. Unmehani Khatun, an eight-year-old child, was one of the six women who were burnt alive that night. Nurnehar Bibi was the oldest victim, aged 77. Marjina Khatun, 21, and Sajidur Rehman, the lone male victim of the massacre, were among the others.
The families living in at least eight other homes were attacked; but they were able to get out. The 10 victims were all members of the families of the three brothers Mihilal, Sheikhlal, and Banirul Sheikh, as well as Sona and Fatik Sheikh, who were related to the brothers.
Hossain is accused of instructing local cops not to rush to Bogtui. The charge sheet cites witnesses who informed CBI that Hossain gave the perpetrators assurances that no policeman would approach the area for at least an hour in accordance with his orders. The Bogtui village is at a distance of less than one kilometre from the Rampurhat police station but the police took more than one hour to reach the spot.
Several witnesses informed the CBI that when they phoned Hossain for assistance, he told them they would have to bear the repercussions of the attack on a TMC leader. According to the charge sheet, Hossain deleted the call logs from his phone in order to destroy evidence.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party’s spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “Anarul Hossain is too small a fry to plan and commit such a massacre on his own. It is obvious that he was carrying out the orders given by someone senior to him in the TMC hierarchy. Are we to believe that top district police officers did not rush to Bogtui just because Hossain asked them not to?”
5. Praveen Nattaru murder
On July 26, Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha worker Praveen Nettaru was hacked to death by Islamist assailants. Nettaru, who ran a poultry business, was returning home when the attack happened. The killers came on a bike in Bellari, Dakshina Kannada of Karnataka, in the late evening and attacked Nettaru with sharp weapons. The assailants escaped after the attack. Nettaru was rushed to the hospital, but he could not be saved.
Praveen Nettaru was an active member of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing popularly known as Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He was an executive committee member of the Dakshin Kannada district unit of the organization. He owned a poultry business in Bellari. On 26th July 2022, when he was returning home after closing his shop, he was attacked by sharp weapons and hacked to death by the attackers.
According to the eyewitnesses of the incident, the assailants came on a motorcycle. The motorcycle had a Kerala registration number. The location where the incident happened is close to the Kerala border. The assailants fled immediately after Praveen Nettaru fell down. Praveen Nettaru was taken to hospital but he could not survive.
On July 28, the Karnataka Police arrested two persons on suspicion of involvement in the BJP Yuva Morcha member Praveen Kumar Nettaru’s murder case. The accused were identified as Zakir and Mohammed Shafiq. The duo was arrested from Kasargod, Kerala. Zakir is 29 years old and is a resident of Savanoor whereas Mohammed Shafiq who is 27 years old belongs to Bellari. These two were the conspirators of the murders and not the actual assailants.
Hours after the arrest of the two accused, reports emerged that Shafiq and Zakir are linked to the Islamist terrorist organization PFI and SDPI. The wife of Shafiq has confirmed that her husband was an active member of the PFI and that he used to participate in all the ‘social’ activities. She also said that on the day of the incident, he was not at home hinting that he might be involved in executing the murder of the BJP youth member. “My husband was a PFI member. He was aware that the murder took place,” Shafiq’s wife told India Today.
Shafiq was also associated with SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India) and had organized various ‘social’ events. The wife after the arrest while talking to the media also said that initially, her husband was not aware of the murder. Later he had tears in his eyes when he came to know about who was murdered in the village.
Another important fact in the matter is that father of the accused Shafiq and his father Ibrahim worked as a butcher at the chicken shop of Praveen Nettaru. This was revealed by Shafiq’s father Ibrahim himself while talking to the media. Ibrahim told India Today, “I work at Praveen’s shop. My son and Praveen used to talk there.” Ibrahim denied his son’s involvement in the crime and alleged that they are targeted because they are Muslim. The brutal killing of Praveen Nettaru happens to be the latest case where the perpetrator and his family were known to the victim.
6. Hyderabad gangrape of minor by sons of politicians
A minor girl was gang-raped in Telangana’s capital Hyderabad on 28th May 2022. The names of kins of a All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA and a TRS leader had appeared in connection with the gang rape. One of them is the son of an AIMIM MLA, while the other is the son of a leader associated with TRS. The MLA’s son was interrogated by the police in this case. The car in which the crime took place belongs to the TRS leader.
Later, Addressing the media to brief the development of the case, Hyderabad West Zone DCP Joel Davis said that the victim minor girl could identify only one of the accused, and the rest were identified with the help of CCTV footage. He said that the police have identified 5 culprits as per CCTV footage and as per the statement of the victim.
He informed that out of the 5 culprits that were identified, three are minors. One of the adult culprits have been arrested, who have been identified as Saduddin Malik. The police had located one juvenile accused, but could not apprehend him because of night time.” I’m hopeful that we will be able to apprehend him tomorrow. He is the son of a VIP”, informed the police official.
However, the DCP refuted the rumours of the involvement of a son of an MLA. “There were a lot of allegations in the media on MLA’s son. As per the statement of the victim, CDR analysis, and the CCTV footage, he was not among those 5,” he said.
In June, however, the Hyderabad police, investigating the Jubliee Hill gang rape case, confirmed that the five accused, all kins of AIMIM MLAs and TRS leaders, had clinically planned the entire crime. They were carrying condoms and even used it while raping the 17-year-old girl in a moving car on the night of May 28.
“They even had condoms on them and used protection while committing the offence. We are trying to ascertain where they got the condoms from,” said the police official as reported by Times of India.
7. Sharaddha Walkar murder
After the Delhi Police detained Poonawala on November 12, the shocking revelations surrounding Shraddha Walkar’s murder stunned the whole country. The 28-year-old admitted during questioning that he killed Shraddha Walkar, dissected her body, and dumped the pieces about the nation’s capital.
The corpse of Shraddha, 27, who had been murdered, was sawed into 35 pieces on May 18 and kept in a 300-litre refrigerator at Poonawala’s home in Mehrauli, south Delhi, for over three weeks before being dumped throughout the city over a number of days.
Poonawala also underwent a number of sessions of polygraph testing, which was followed by a narcoanalysis test performed at Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital by specialists from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Rohini. Aftab Amin Poonawala is currently lodged in Tihar Jail and is in judicial custody.
On Thursday, 15th December 2022, Delhi police sources revealed that DNA from skeletal remains found by the Delhi Police in the Mehrauli forest in connection with the gruesome Shraddha Walkar murder case matched with specimens from the victim’s father. While looking for Shraddha Walkar’s body parts, the police found 13 pieces of bones in the region. The pieces were then sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory for DNA examination.
Shraddha Walkar’s murder case shook the national capital when it was revealed that she was killed by her live-in-relationship partner Aftab Amin Poonawala who chopped her dead body into 35 pieces and kept it in a fridge before disposing of it in parts.
A police source said, “The police has received the DNA report of the bones found. The DNA of the bones matches with the DNA samples of Shraddha Walkar’s father.”
8. Kerala human sacrifice and cannibalism
In October 2022, the Kerala police uncovered a disturbing case of human sacrifice and black magic practised to bring wealth and prosperity to a family. The Kochi city police apprehended three persons suspected of kidnapping and killing two women in Kochi as part of black magic rituals. The three accused persons have been identified as Mohammed Shafi (agent), BhagavalSingh, and his wife Laila.
According to the reports, Shafi is a resident of SRM Road, Ernakulam, while the Singh couple is a native of Thiruvalla, and were residing at Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta. The couple confessed to having murdered two women as a part of a witchcraft ritual. The accused justified their actions by saying that the women were murdered for the economic prosperity of their family in the Pathanamthitta district.
Police stated that Mohammed Shafi had persuaded Bhagaval Singh and Laila that performing human sacrifices would bring the family riches and great fortune. He also lured the two victim women and took them to the accused before they were murdered.
The two women who were murdered have been identified as Padmam (52) of the Panchavady colony in Ponnurunni, and Rosily (50) a native of Vadakkencherry in Thrissur district. The two were residing at Kalady in Ernakulam district when the incident happened. Their bodies were severed into parts and buried at Elanthoor in the Pathanamthitta district.
Many disturbing details had emerged in the case. There were revelations made during the investigation that the accused’s breasts were chopped off and Shafi had inserted rods in the victim’s private parts. Full report can be read here.
9. The case of Ayushi Yadav
The Mathura police on November 21, said that they had solved the murder of a girl whose body was found stuffed in a trolley bag near Yamuna Expressway a week earlier. The body was identified as that of 21-year-old girl Ayushi Yadav, a resident of Delhi’s Badarpur. The deceased reportedly had bloodstains on the face and injuries, besides the mark of a gunshot to the chest. As per reports, Nitesh Yadav, father of the deceased shot her dead.
The Mathura police in a video byte revealed that the girl had gone somewhere a few days ago without informing her father. The girl had reportedly married someone against her family’s wishes. On November 18, when she returned home, an argument ensued between the girl and her family members, following which the father, who hails from UP’s Gorakhpur, fired two shots at the girl, leaving her dead.
The parents then wrapped their daughter’s body in a plastic bag and packed it into a suitcase. Around 3 am, the mother and father drove down to Yamuna Expressway with the suitcase containing their daughter’s dead body and dumped it in the bushes near the Agricultural Research Centre on the Yamuna Expressway service road.
The police stated that when they investigated the mother and father, they discovered several discrepancies in their statements. After additional questioning, the duo admitted to the crime. They disclosed that the father shot the girl before the mother and the brother of the girl.
10. Ankita Bhandari murdered by resort owner in Himachal Pradesh
In September 2022, the Uttarakhand Police arrested three persons in the case of Ankita Bhandari who had gone missing from a resort in Pauri district. The three arrested persons were identified as Pulkit Arya who is the son of former BJP state minister Vinod Arya, resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar, and another person named Ankit Gupta.
Ankita worked as a receptionist in the Yamkeshwar Vidhan Sabha’s Ganga Bhojpur resort named Vanantra resort which is owned by Pulkit Arya. She was reported missing five days ago. However, the police launched an investigation after the girl’s family reported a missing case and feared murder. The culprits have informed police that Ankita was murdered after an argument with her as she was refusing to the demand of the resort owner for sexual favour for himself and his guests in the resort.
Pulkit Arya was forcing Ankita Bhandari to ‘service’ clients, which means she was being forced to become a prostitute for the resort customers, and she was refusing this demand. This led to a confrontation between the two, which escalated after Ankita told about Pulkit’s demands to other staff of the resort.
On September 18, Pulkit Arya, his friend Ankit Gupta and resort manager Saurabh Bhaskar took Ankita out for a chat to resolve the issue. They went to Rishikesh on bikes, with Ankita riding pillion with Pulkit. They stopped at an isolated dark place, where they drank liquor. Their Pulik Arya and Ankita Bhandari started arguing about the matter, with Pulit being angry that she had told others about his demands to others. Saurabh Bhaskar said that the argument led to a physical fight between the two, and Ankita threw Pulkit’s phone in the river during this fight. Angry over this, Pulkit pushed her into the river, presumably killing her.
During the investigation into the murder case of Ankita Bhandari, the Vanantra Resort staff members revealed that the resort owned by Pulkit Arya was the hub of prostitution and drug abuse. They claimed that the resort owner would mentally harass the employees and force them into shady activities.
The full coverage of the case can be read here.
