New Delhi: New videos from the day of the attack on an elderly Muslim man in Loni, in which a group of men are seen beating him up and chopping off his beard, have surfaced along with a handwritten complaint signed by the victim.
While the first video of the assault on Abdul Samad Saifi, 72, which went viral and triggered an outrage, were muted, these two have audio and the accused can be heard talking of “deception” and “jadu tona (occult practices)”. The videos show the attackers questioning Saifi and going through a bag containing items of “jadu tona“.
The handwritten complaint that has surfaced now, meanwhile, was said to have been given by Saifi to the Ghaziabad police on 6 June, but the latter denied this. The complaint, seen by ThePrint, reiterates what the 72-year-old was seen saying in a video shared on Facebook by Samajwadi Party member Ummed Pehalwan Idrisi on 7 June — that the accused forced him to chant “Jai Shri Ram”, which the police have said never actually happened.
The Ghaziabad police, which is investigating the case, have said the attack was a result of “personal enmity” and not communal. They also countered the victim’s claim that he did not know the suspects. According to the police, Saifi had given a ‘taweez (amulet)’ to Parvesh Gujjar, the “main accused”, claiming it would bring “good fortune”, but a mishap occurred in his family, instead, after which he ganged up with the others and beat up the old man.
The police told ThePrint Thursday that they received just one formal complaint from Saifi, on 7 June, and based on that a case was registered and arrests were made.
Meanwhile, Kallu Gujjar, one of the accused who was arrested Monday, confessed to assaulting and chopping off Saifi’s beard, the police said. According to them, Gujjar admitted that he beat up Saifi to “teach him a lesson”.
“It was Kallu who chopped off Abdul Samad’s beard while others thrashed Samad. As of now, there are eight to nine suspects in total,” Superintendent of Police (Rural) Iraj Raja said.
Five persons are currently in custody in connection with the case — a Muslim youth Adil and Kallu Gujjar were arrested Monday while Parvesh Gujjar had already been in custody since Saturday in an unrelated extortion case. Two others — Intezar and Saddam — were arrested Wednesday night.
Adil’s family had, however, told ThePrint that he was there only to “save Saifi”, and that “no Muslim hit the man”. Asked about this, the police said Adil, during questioning, denied that he assaulted Saifi but confessed that he abused him.
“Adil hasn’t confessed to beating up the victim. But investigation has revealed that he had also manhandled the old man along with the other boys,” a senior police officer said.
The police have identified several other suspects in the case, including Poli, Himanshu, Arif and Mushahid, who are yet to be arrested.
A case has also been registered against SP member Idrisi, who uploaded the above-mentioned video of Saifi complaining about the attack, on charges of “promoting enmity”.
Also read: Editors Guild demands withdrawal of FIRs against journalists who tweeted on Muslim man’s attack
Police hunt for video with audio
The police are yet to trace the original video clip of the assault with audio. “We are still trying to get hold of the video clip. The video was shot on Parvesh’s phone and after he was arrested, the phone was with Adil. Adil and some others uploaded the mute video online and hid the phone. All efforts are being made to trace it,” SP Raja said.
Meanwhile, a handwritten complaint signed by Saifi, dated 6 June, surfaced Wednesday. The complaint, a copy of which is with ThePrint, has no receiving stamp of the police. In it, Saifi had alleged that he was not only forced to chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ but also told to drink his attackers’ urine when he asked for water.
The Ghaziabad police denied receiving this letter of complaint, stating that Saifi had filed only one complaint, on 7 June. ThePrint has accessed this complaint.
Both the complaints are against “unknown persons” and narrate similar beginnings of the assault — from being abducted by the suspects, transported in an auto to an “isolated location” and then beaten up.
“This letter [handwritten complaint] was not given to the police. Samad only filed a complaint on 7 June,” SP Raja told ThePrint, adding that the sequence of events in both the complaints is “untrue”.
Saifi Wednesday told a TV channel that the police were “lying” about his handwritten complaint.
Speaking to ThePrint Thursday, Saifi’s eldest son Babbu said his father was brought to Delhi for treatment after his health deteriorated Wednesday night. “He had been in Aligarh since Tuesday, and had only returned yesterday. After his blood pressure rose and health deteriorated, we got him to Delhi. We have nothing to say about the complaint letter,” he said.
What the investigation has found so far
According to the police, accused Intezar had introduced Parvesh to Saifi, and all the suspects knew each other well and would often meet at Adil’s gym. The assault, the police said, was triggered due to personal enmity between Parvesh and Saifi.
Parvesh had allegedly taken a taweez from Saifi for good luck. However, his wife later suffered a miscarriage, which Parvesh blamed Saifi for.
In one of the new videos of the assault, which ThePrint accessed, a group of men, including Parvesh, can be heard saying in Hindi: “You have deceived us” and “You did this in our house”.
“During interrogation, Saddam revealed that he had taken Saifi’s help for his child, who wasn’t drinking mother’s milk, two-three days before the incident. When Saifi visited Loni on 5 June, Intezar asked Saddam to take him (Saifi) to Parvesh’s house. Parvesh then called Adil, and soon three-four other boys also came by. Kallu and Adil had come together to the spot (Parvesh’s house) on a Scooty,” a senior police officer, who is part of the investigation, told ThePrint.
“Parvesh Gujjar was interrogating Saifi on the taweez. Saddam was present at the spot. Gujjar then called up Intezar and told him that Abdul Samad had claimed that Intezar had asked him to do ‘ulta jadu tona’ at Parvesh’s house. After Intezar arrived, a scuffle broke out between them. Intezar said that Saifi is lying and then the boys started abusing and hitting him,” the senior officer said.
In another new video that has surfaced, also seen by ThePrint, Parvesh is purportedly heard asking Saifi: “Who asked you to give the taweez at my home?”
To this, Saifi says: “Intezar asked me to do it.”
The police have accessed Saifi’s call detail records. “Saifi met Parvesh several times before 5 June. CDRs (call data records) show they spoke 3-4 times between 21 April to 1 June. Intezar and Saifi spoke 13 times, Saddam and Saifi spoke five times in the same period,” the source said.
(Edited by Manasa Mohan)
Also read: UP Muslim cop suspended for keeping beard without permission, he says plea pending for a year