Man behind Raj hate crime held

Police have arrested Shambhu Nath Raigar, the man behind the hate crime that went viral on social media.

Shambunath had hacked a man to death then set his body on fire and posted the entire incident on Whatsapp claiming that he did it to take revenge for his sister. The incident took place just 700 metres from the district collectorate in Rajsamand.

The victim was identified as Afrazul alias Bhuttu. The 50-year-old, a labourer, was a native of Sayyedpur Kalichak in Malda district of West Bengal.

A Special Investigation Team was on Thursday set up by the Rajasthan government to investigate the killing and to find out if there was any communal angle linked to it.

“It is shocking how he killed the man and made a video of it. The accused has been arrested and an SIT will investigate the case,” said home minister Gulab Chand Kataria.

Senior police official, IG Anand Srivastava of Udaipur Range, has been camping in Rajsamand to keep an eye on the law and order situation prevailing there after the incident. Internet services have been blocked in the district.

Earlier, somebody spotted the half burnt body in the field that belonged to the accused on Dev Heritage Road and informed the police, who later found a motorcycle, a scooty, a sickle, a bottle of petrol and a half burnt Aadhaar card at the spot. However, Afrazul’s identity remained unknown until the video surfaced.

In the video, Shambhu is seen striking Shaikh with a sickle and dousing him with petrol and setting him ablaze before fleeing the scene.

The accused is said to have taken the victim to the spot on pretext of giving work at his agriculture farm. In the video, after the horrific deed, Shambu rants about ‘Love Jihad’ and patriotism.

Later, another video of Shambu surfaced in which he admitted to committing the crime and mentioned that he will surrender.

The accused allegedly got a friend with him to record the video of the incident. The victim can be seen crying for help in the video even as the accused strikes him with an axe and later burns him alive.