Man pulled out of police van and lynched in Shamli

MEERUT: A mob allegedly dragged a man out of an UP police patrol vehicle and beat him to death in the presence of policemen in Hathchoya village in Shamli on Monday evening.

A video of the lynching spread on multiple social media platforms on Tuesday.

Police, who said the incident was the fallout of enmity between two groups, have arrested the main accused, Hashim (goes by one name), and five others on a complaint filed by the victim’s brother. The victim has been identified as Rajendra, 35, a grocery shop owner.

In the video of the alleged incident, a group of people is seen pulling out Rajendra from the police ‘Dial 100’ vehicle and a woman is heard screaming at him.

He is beaten with sticks till he falls on the ground, ostensibly unconscious even as two policemen look on, without intervening.

Shamli’s superintendent of police, Ajay Kumar said a case had been registered under sections 302 (murder) 147 (punishment for rioting), and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and of the Indian Penal Code against Hashim and five others, who were identified as Rifu, Sadakat, Vasar, Saadat and Amir.

“The police carried out raids on Monday night and arrested Hashim, who is the main accused,” Kumar said, while admitting negligence by policemen who were in the patrol van. “Two policemen on duty have been suspended and a departmental inquiry has been initiated against them. Stern action will be taken against people found responsible for the incident,” Kumar added.

The SP said the police went to the village on Monday evening after a complaint by some villagers that Rajendra was creating a scene after drinking alcohol. Even as the policemen took Rajendra in custody, the mob kept beating him.

They then dragged him out of the vehicle and assaulted him. SP Ajay Kumar however claimed that Rajendra died in the village two hours after the incident and his body was sent for a post-mortem.

He said Rajendra was drunk at the time of incident and he had four cases of eve teasing and creating nuisance in village after consuming liquor were registered in Jhinjhana police station.

Police took Rajendra to the district hospital, where he was declared ‘brought dead’.

Rajendra’s family members and other villagers blocked the Jhinjhana-Un road on Tuesday morning demanding the immediate arrest of the accused.