According to the chargesheet presented to the court last week, a Special Investigation Team stated that the three men who were discovered under a bridge in Arang, in the Raipur region of Chhattisgarh last month, “jumped” to their deaths and were neither lynched nor beaten. The deceased were identified as Saddam Qureshi (23) and his cousin Chand Miya Khan (23) who were from Saharanpur district and Guddu Khan (35) of Shamli district. The postmortem report revealed that their death was caused by their fall onto the rocks.
The chargesheet was submitted on 8th July but remained confidential until 17th July, when its single page appeared on social media. A previous First Information Report from the police included charges of assault and attempted murder. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) charged five men Harsh Mishra, Mayank Sharma, Raja Agarwal, Navin Thakur and Tanay Luniya under the counts of culpable homicide and common intention for the killings.
On 7th June, the three males were reportedly being pursued by the gau-rakshaks (cow-protectors) on suspicion of smuggling cows when they were taking cattle from Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund to the state capital Raipur. They were subsequently discovered lying on the rocks beneath a bridge. Chand Miya Khan lost his life immediately while Guddu Khan passed away on the way to the hospital that day and Saddam Qureshi died on 18th June from his wounds.
Initially, the incident was labelled a mob lynching. Afterwards, an SIT was formed to look into the matter and it filed a charge sheet in the court after concluding the investigation. Notably, the police personnel and the charge sheet disclosed that the Muslim men were never attacked. They leapt into the river out of fear and met their deaths.
The gau rakshaks were waiting for the trio in a car as they had information about cattle smuggling, according to the SIT charge sheet. The gau rakshaks tried to halt the four-wheeler and carry out an inspection but the latter drove away to escape for at least 54 kilometres as a long chase ensued. The Muslim men then got off their truck on the Mahanadi bridge located in Arang and plunged into the river believing that there would be water but it was dry and they ended up losing their lives. According to sources, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) could not establish assault.
The authorities earlier lodged a case under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide) and 307 (attempt to murder). Nevertheless, the police removed the attempted murder charge after Saddam Qureshi died because his autopsy report had no mention of assault-related injuries. “The assault never took place. The three got scared and jumped,” confirmed Additional Superintendent (Raipur Rural) Kirtan Rathore when questioned about the chargesheet on 17th July.
How the mob lynching narrative was peddled on social media
The Islamists and its ecosystem, whose primary goal is to provide a communal element where none previously existed and blame Hindus didn’t take much time to resort to their devious tricks in this case either. The members of the Muslim community flocked to the streets in Chhattisgarh to demonstrate against the ‘mob lynching’ as their religious and ideological brethren amplified the same lie online.
Social media commentator Harun Khan tweeted a video of a protest in Raipur against the alleged murders of the three Muslim men.
Chhattisgarh: Large protest in Raipur against mob lynching, People from Muslim community took to the streets. pic.twitter.com/fbsNtlDYWw
— هارون خان (@iamharunkhan) June 25, 2024
Another Muslim handle referred to the arrest of Harsh Mishra as the first one in the ‘mob lynching’ case and claimed that the latter was hiding at his girlfriend’s residence.
First arrest in mob lynching case in Chhattisgarh
— زماں (@Delhiite_) June 23, 2024
– The accused Harsh Mishra was hiding at his girlfriend's house
– The case will be revealed after questioning the accusedhttps://t.co/50pBl3a6Qk pic.twitter.com/Oo2hFTZ8hk
“Muslim Spaces” repeated the same falsehood, labelling the instance in Chhattisgarh as a “mob lynching of cattle transporters.”
Two Muslim cattle transporters from UP killed in alleged mob lynching in Chhattisgarh
— Muslim Spaces (@MuslimSpaces) June 8, 2024
While the Muslim victims families have alleged a mob lynching, police said it is yet to "establish the sequence of events", reports @ShubhomoySikdar for @the_hindu
Two Muslim cattle… pic.twitter.com/2wCQj10Jw3
Another popular user by the name of “Hate Detector” claimed that Raja Agarwal who identified himself as a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha was arrested in the ‘mob lynching’ of the three men.
Raja Agrawal was arrested in connection with lynching of three #Muslim men in #Chhattisgarh's #Raipur. On Facebook, Agrawal has described himself as a leader of #BJP's youth wing #BJPYuvaMorcha. pic.twitter.com/A1u8KDAorU
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) June 25, 2024
Opportunistic Indian National Congress leader and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani also exploited the incident to attack the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party government and the authorities. He also alleged that the three Muslim males were murdered and demanded strict punishment for the perpetrators. He further threatened, “If justice is not served, we will organize massive protests against the BJP government. We demand accountability and swift action.”
The horrific lynching of three Muslim men in Chhattisgarh on June 7th is a clear failure of the BJP government and the state police. These men were brutally attacked while transporting cattle, leading to the tragic deaths of Tehseen Qureshi and Chand Khan, while Saddam Qureshi is… pic.twitter.com/kw4edS3wwK
— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) June 11, 2024
Another netizen referred to the murders as “saffron terrorists” and called it “business as usual” implying that Muslims regularly die at the hands of Hindus in India. The person also highlighted that the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged victorious on ten out of eleven Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh.
Saffron terr0r!sts mob lynching Muslims – Business as Usual
— 𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒚𝒂🛡 (@catale7a) June 8, 2024
Bodies of Chand Miya and Guddu Khan were found in the Mahanadi River, while Saddam Khan is in critical condition
🚩BJP won 10 out of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh pic.twitter.com/BfA6Obo1SQ
Unsurprisingly, after the facts emerged and it was determined that the occurrence was not a mob lynching, the same individuals would neither apologize nor retract their false statements and sectarian remarks they had previously circulated to disparage Hindus and the BJP. It is pertinent to note that the Islamist-liberal ecosystem has been exposed multiple times in the past, although they brazenly continue to point fingers at Hindus while simultaneously ignoring or whitewashing hundreds of similar assaults where the majority community has come under attack and killed by the Muslims.
