On Monday (9th October), the Maharashtra Police booked four persons identified as Adnan Sheikh, Mobin Sheikh, Shahbaz Sheikh, and Abdul Sayyed for brutally assaulting a young man identified as Amit Pardeshi for playing songs of Lord Rama. The accused threatened the victim and hit him with iron rods resulting in severe injuries.
The incident is said to have happened in the Mundhwa region of Maharashtra’s Pune district. The accused, who attained injuries on his head, fell unconscious after he was assaulted and was immediately taken to the hospital. He is under treatment.
The accused have been booked under sections 307, 324, 323, 452, 504, 506, 141, 143, 147, 149 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Several sections of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951 including 37 (1), 37 (3), and 135 have also been imposed against the accused.
The incident happened on the evening of 8th October. As per the FIR copy exclusively obtained by OpIndia, the victim was driving with his friends in a Swift car at around 11:30 p.m. He had Hindu devotional songs playing on car speakers, which is when the accused arrived on the bike and stopped the car. They then threatened the victim and warned them not to play songs of Shri Ram in ‘their’ locality.
Mundhwa region in the city of Pune houses a Muslim majority population. Ramkrushna Macharla, the victim’s friend who filed the complaint in the case said, “Me and Amit were together when the incident happened. We had been together for the whole day. In the evening, my mother called me saying that there was some emergency at my home and that she needed me. So I and Amit headed from Camp to the Balajinagar area in his car. One of my friends was also with us. As soon as we reached the Balajinagar area, the accused arrived on the bikes and stopped the car from the opposite direction. They threatened Amit for playing Ram tunes and then abused and assaulted him. We tried to pacify the matter but the accused then hit iron rods on Amit’s head.”
Ramkhushna (24) also mentioned that the accused started the attack which led to severe injuries on the head of the victim.
As per the FIR copy, the victim asked the accused at first to make the wtofor his car as there was an emergency to be attended to at his friend’s home. However, the accused stopped the car and said, “Where are you going and why are you playing the Ram Bhajans here.” The victim then got out of the car and requested them to go away. Meanwhile, more associates of the accused arrived at the spot and began abusing the victim. They also threatened the victim to death and warned him not to play such songs in the area this late.
The brawl began then and the accused is said to have attacked the victim with an iron rod on his head. The friends of the victim approached to help and tried to pacify the matter however, the victim fell unconscious and needed to be taken to the hospital.
“Do not play such songs in such a loud voice in this area from now. Otherwise, you’ll have to face dire consequences. Learn to stay within your limits,” the accused threatened.
OpIndia contacted PI Vishnu Tamhane of Mundhwa Police Station to know the updates on the case. He confirmed the incident and said, “The victim and his friends were attacked by the accused for playing loud music in the area. The victim has attained injuries and is lodged at the hospital. The accused and the victim stayed in the same area so they knew each other. The accused have been booked. Taken into custody. There’s peace at present. Investigations are underway.”
Four accused identified as Adnan Sheikh, Mobin Sheikh, Shahbaz Sheikh, and Abdul Sayyed have been booked under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Maharashtra Police Act, 1951. Investigations are underway.
