Lucknow: A college student who allegedly attacked a bus conductor with a cleaver in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj Friday made a video soon after, claiming that the latter was “hurling abuses at Muslims”.
In the video, which has gone viral on social media, the accused is purportedly seen brandishing the cleaver and saying he had attacked the conductor with it.
The 20-year-old student, identified as Lareb Hashmi, was arrested later Friday, while the conductor, Harikesh Vishwakarma, 23, is in hospital for treatment of injuries on the neck and hands. According to the Yamunanagar police, Hashmi also opened fired at policemen, and was shot in the leg in “defensive firing”.
According to media reports, Hashmi, who is a first year B.Tech student at the United College of Engineering and Research, has been suspended from the college.
“Information was received that a youth named Lareb Hashmi had injured a city bus conductor with a cleaver following a dispute over fare. He has been arrested,” Abhinav Tyagi, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Yamunanagar, said in a video statement.
“A police team reached the spot and took the injured to hospital. An FIR has been lodged at Industrial Area police station. When the accused was taken for recovery of the cleaver, he fired at the police with an arm he had been hiding. He was then shot in the leg in defensive firing and taken to hospital immediately,” the DCP added. “A team, led by a gazetted officer, has been constituted to question him.”
In the FIR lodged under IPC section 307 (attempt to murder), Ram Shiromani Vishwakarma, the conductor’s father, has alleged that an unknown youth attacked his son with a cleaver when he was collecting fare on a city bus.
“The unknown youth attacked my son on his neck which has caused serious injuries on his neck, right hand and left hand. Nandan Yadav, who was travelling in the same bus, witnessed the incident and took my son to hospital,” the FIR states.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Karchana) Ajeet Singh Chauhan said Hashmi had planned to attack Harikesh since he was angered over an objectionable remark made by the latter three days before the incident.
“Three days ago, there was an argument between another bus conductor, identified as Sajid, and a passenger. Harikesh had made an objectionable remark about a community which Hashmi had overheard and which angered him. The latter’s friends started laughing at the comment. Hashmi then decided to attack Harikesh and brought the cleaver in his bag,” said Chauhan.
Speaking to ThePrint, Shiromani said he was informed about the incident by passengers and bus staff. “He (Harikesh) was collecting fare and was about to return money to the youth. When he put his hand in his bag to take out the money, the youth slashed his neck with a cleaver. This is what fellow passengers told us. Another conductor who was travelling in the same bus took Harikesh to hospital.”
A Prayagraj police officer told ThePrint that Hashmi had taken the cleaver from a poultry farm owned by his father and the UP Anti-Terrorism Squad had questioned him Saturday.
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‘Accused was a daily passenger’
Speaking to ThePrint, Rahul Yadav, an accountant with the Prayagraj City Transport Service, said Hashmi was a daily passenger on the bus route.
“He would regularly commute on the route from Shantipuram to United College. Conductors had seen him on the bus several times,” he added.
According to Rahul, while Hashmi attacked Harikesh, two other youth on the bus had tried to restrain him but he attacked them too.
“The other bus conductor, Nandan Yadav, was also injured in the melee. Hashmi jumped from the bus and a passenger travelling in an auto recorded a video of him running on the road,” he said. This video has also gone viral on social media.
Harikesh has suffered serious injuries on the right side of his neck and has lost a finger of his right hand where he has also suffered a fracture, Rahul said.
“I was informed about the incident around 9 am because two private hospitals had denied admission to Harikesh. I, along with my colleagues in the transport department and the local police, got him admitted in Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital,” he added.
Attacker mentions founder of Pakistan outfit
In his video rant, the accused mentions Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying that nobody should think they were ruling as “their (Muslims’) hearts are being ruled by Mustafa (one of the names of the Prophet Muhammad).”
He can also be heard saying that anyone talking against “huzur” (referring to the Prophet) would be killed.
The accused further mentions the late Pakistan scholar Khadim Hussain Rizvi, founder of Tehreeq-e-Labbaik Pakistan, saying he had asked for “a pile of bodies of the enemies of Islam”.
Rizvi had been booked on terror charges and his outfit banned by Pakistan in 2021. The ban was, however, lifted later that year.
“Ya Khadim Hussain Rizvi, aapne farmaya tha, Allah ki raah pe niklo…. farishte aayenge… ek katal nahi karna…. dushman Islam de… lashan de dher laga dene (Khadim Hussain Rizvi, you had said we should move on the path of Allah and angels will come. We don’t have to kill one enemy of Islam…make a pile of bodies),” the accused purportedly says in the video he recorded.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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