Kalyan: Thane Railway Police Tuesday formally arrested Suresh Jadhav, the fourth accused involved in the assault of a Muslim man on suspicion of ‘carrying beef’ on a train last week. Jadhav, 19, was produced in the Kalyan Railway Court Wednesday after being arrested the day before.
Jadhav has been remanded to police custody for two days.
The police are considering whether stricter sections under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)—109 (attempt to murder) and 103(2) (mob lynching)—can be applied based on the details mentioned in the application filed by an intervener on behalf of the victim.
On 1 September, the police had arrested the first three accused—Akash Avhad (30), Nitesh Ahire (30), and Jayesh Mohite (21). While they were released on bail the same day by the holiday court, the Kalyan Railway Court Monday cancelled their bail order. This was because Hussain filed a supplementary FIR the same day, stating that his phone was stolen and he was threatened, following which the police added sections 302 (intentionally hurting religious sentiment) and 311 (robbery/dacoity) to the main FIR. The three have been untraceable ever since being released.
The four accused wanted to appear for police recruitment exams, and are not associated with any organisation or party prima facie, the police told ThePrint.
Avhad and Ahire are sons of former cops, Mohite a daily-wage worker’s child, and Jadhav the son of a driver.
The first three belong to Dhule and do not have formal jobs, according to the police. Meanwhile, the fourth is a student residing in Digha, Thane district.
“The investigation is still on and we need to obtain more information from the fourth accused about who else is involved, and what their connections are, among other details,” Archana Dusane, senior police inspector under Government Railway Police (GRP), Thane, told ThePrint.
A video of the incident, which has gone viral on social media, shows more perpetrators, and the police are searching for them.
On 28 August, Hussain, a resident of Chalisgaon near Jalgaon in north Maharashtra, was en route to his daughter’s home in Kalyan—located on the outskirts of Mumbai—aboard the Dhule-Mumbai CSMT Express. He initially had an argument with some present in the compartment over a seat. When he was about to get off at Kalyan station, the above-mentioned mob stopped and harassed him, asking if he was carrying beef.
They punched him in the face and stomach repeatedly, and took him to the door of the train compartment, threatening to throw him out.
An unknown person filmed the entire episode, and uploaded it on social media.
Three days after the incident, the police filed an FIR under various sections of the BNS: 189(2) (unlawful assembly), 191(2) (rioting), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 190 (being member of unlawful assembly), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult with the intent to provoke breach of peace), 324(4) (mischief), and 351(3) (criminal intimidation). ThePrint has accessed the FIR.
What the remand copy says
According to the police remand copy exclusively accessed by ThePrint, the police identified Jadhav from the viral video, and arrested him from his Digha residence Tuesday at around 4.30 pm.
While investigating Jadhav, they recovered from him a mobile phone worth Rs 16,000.
“During our investigation, it was brought to our notice that the said accused was involved in the crime,” the remand copy said.
While arguing before the court, the police said that the person who filmed the entire incident was yet to be identified. Also, they said they hoped to find the other accused with Jadhav’s assistance.
The defence lawyer, Vishal Mendhe, argued before the court that Jadhav had been in police custody since Tuesday evening, despite the police not finding any concrete evidence against him. Mendhe also said that additional sections like 311 and 302 of BNS were not applicable in the case.
However, Judge V.P. Shinde told him that the case was regarding the remand and not about whether certain sections were applicable or not.
In the remand copy, the police further argued that they also needed time to check Jadhav’s background and make his character sketch. Moreover, the content on his mobile phone must also be verified and authenticated.
“From the viral video, it is clear that Jadhav was also involved. We need to find more accused in this case, which we can do with his help. The money taken forcefully from Ashraf Ali needs to be recovered. We need to figure out the real motive behind the crime,” the remand copy said.
“Also, they threatened the victim to throw him out of the train and also acted to disturb religious harmony between two communities, so this is a serious matter. Whether they were provoked or influenced by someone else, needs to be investigated. And the characters of these accused also need to be probed, hence we need 5 days of police custody,” the remand copy further read.
The judge noted that since the defence argued that Jadhav was falsely implicated and no recovery was pending against him, “the accused is taken into police custody till 06/09/2024.”
However, advocate Abid Sayyad, who is representing Hussain, told ThePrint that he has submitted an application to the police to apply stricter sections.
“The victim is grievously injured and in the hospital. Internal bleeding has also occurred. We will be submitting the medical report of the victim and have asked the police to add sections for mob lynching, attempt to murder, and arms act as they even showed a knife to the victim and threatened him. The police said they would look into it,” Sayyad said.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)