A video from Punjab’s Moga has gone viral online wherein a group of people are seen assaulting a man tied to a grill over the allegation of theft from a local Gurdwara. The victim was later confirmed dead as he succumbed to his injuries. The incident took place on 15th October, however, it came to the fore only after the video of the incident surfaced online.
According to media reports, the incident unfolded in Gurusar Mari Mustafa village in Baghapurana of Moga district. Here a man reportedly named Karam Singh (some reports say Ujagar Singh) broke into Gurdwara Gurpuri Sahib and stole some money from the “Gullak”.
On October 16, the villagers tied a young man to the grill of Gurudwara & beaten him to death on the charges of theft in Gurudwara in #Moga. Police registered a case against 5 people and other unknown people, police are conducting raids to arrest the accused: SPD Ajay Raj singh pic.twitter.com/HRXeVD41NZ
— Nikhil Choudhary (@NikhilCh_) October 27, 2023
As per a BBC report, on the night of October 14, some people allegedly entered the Gurdwara at night, broke the cash box (gullak) and stole the money. Later when the CCTV footage was checked, the locals identified the accused and caught him.
In the viral video, it is seen that several men are seen dragging the victim and hitting him with sticks while his hands to a grill. The 30-year-old victim Karam Singh was later taken to a hospital, however, he succumbed to his injuries. The victim’s body was sent for postmortem examination. The police said that the autopsy report is yet to come out.
Meanwhile, DSP Jasjot Singh of Sub-Division Baghapurana has said that the police have identified six residents of Gurusar Madi village and filed a case against them under the sections of murder.
“We had booked under Section 174 of CrPC based on the written statement given by the family of the deceased. But now that the video of the beating of the deceased youth has gone viral on social media, we have also registered a case under sections 302, 342, 148, 149 of the IPC and section 67 of the Information Technology Act,” the DSP said.
According to the deceased victim’s mother who works as a farm labourer, her son was alone at home on the day this incident transpired. Seeto Kaur told BBC that she had gone to Rajasthan along with her husband a few days before the incident for work. There she received information that her son had died. She alleged that her son was held captive for stealing a gullak kept there.
