New Delhi: Saleem Wastik, a businessman and YouTuber who regularly appears on TV panels as a critic of Islamic fundamentalism, was stabbed in his office allegedly by two unidentified men in Ghaziabad’s Loni on the morning of 27 February, police said Saturday.
ACP (Loni) Siddhartha Gautam said that on 27 February, around 8 am, information was received at Loni police station about a 55-year-old man being attacked by two unidentified persons in Ali Garden. Police reached the spot and rushed Wastik to a local hospital.
He was later referred to GTB Hospital by ambulance, where he is now under treatment.
Based on the complaint by his family, an FIR has been registered at Loni police station under BNS sections 109(1) (attempt to murder) and 3(5) (common intention).
Police are also scanning CCTV cameras around the vicinity, and teams have been formed to arrest the accused, ACP Gautam said.
Saleem Wastik is a popular name in the Loni area, known also as “ex Muslim”. He runs a YouTube channel (Saleemwastik0007) with more than 29,000 followers, where he regularly uploads videos on topics related to Islam, the life of Muslims and madrassa education, among others. He is also a frequent panelist on Hindi TV news debates.
Reacting to the attack on him, many YouTubers and content creators shared videos of Wastik, asking for ‘support for their ‘Sanatani brother.’”
Police said an initial investigation has revealed that two people, wearing helmets, came on a bike and parked it outside Wastik’s office-cum-residence. They asked children who were loitering outside the office to go home. They then started beating Waasik and later stabbed him multiple times with a knife. When his family came to his rescue, the men fled.
In his police complaint, Usman, Salim’s son, said that on February 27, around 6 am, when his father was sitting in his office at Ali Garden in Loni, two men, who couldn’t be identified, arrived at his office on a two wheeler, and with the intention of killing him. “They severely attacked him with knives and sharp weapons, stabbed him in the stomach and neck, and they fled leaving him unconscious,” Usman said in his complaint.
He also said he suspected the involvement of four individuals in the attack on his father.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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