Migrant worker ‘beaten to death’ in Kheda, 2nd in two days in Gujarat

An FIR was lodged at the Mahemdabad police station on March 20 against unknown persons under sections of IPC 143 (member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 ( member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence commit­ted in prosecution of common object), 302 (murder) and section 114 (abettor present when offence is committed), even as the police said it was questioning some suspects.

“No one has been arrested yet,” Kheda district deputy superintendent of police VR Bajpai told The Indian Express Tuesday.

According to the FIR, Singh, a Bihar native who works as a supervisor at the High Speed Railway Terminal in Sabarmati, got a call from the Mahemdabad police station to identify the body of a person at the Ahmedabad Civil hospital, who had died during treatment after some people had beaten him up in Sudhavansol village. The contact number was found from Kherawar’s belongings.

Singh, along with his senior officer Manohar Singh Shekhawat, reached the hospital and identified the body. He said there was a serious injury on his head and was informed that he died due to excessive bleeding.

“He (Kherawar) had come to me about three days ago for work, but then said he did not want to work here and wished to return to his native place. He left Ahmedabad about a day ago around 10.30 in the morning,” the complaint read.

“The sarpanch of Sudhavansol village, who was at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, told me that the man was beaten up by some six people, resulting in his death,” the FIR quotes Singh as saying.

“The villagers had suspected the deceased to be a thief and beaten him up. Though nothing can be said for sure about why he went there. It is probable that he went there in search of work,” said MN Panchal, inspector of Mahemdabad police station. Bajpai added that the family of the deceased has been informed and they are yet to reach Ahmedabad.

A similar incident had taken place on March 19 at Jivanpura village in Ahmedabad district where a 35-year-old Nepalese national was allegedly beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of being a thief. Police arrested 10 persons in connection with the attack.

On March 16, another incident was reported from Telav village in Sanand where a labourer from Chennai was tied to a pole by a group of people who allegedly caught him breaking into a car.

Police are yet to file an FIR in the case and claimed that the migrant identified as Ajay Sharvan Tutinayaka, 20, was not beaten up.
According to inspector AR Jadhav at the Sanand police station, Tutinayaka was beaten up by the villagers in Telav for allegedly breaking the window of a car.

“He was tied to a pole and the villagers informed the police. He was not beaten up. We took him to the police station, and realised he cannot speak Gujarati or Hindi, but managed to ask him to call any of his acquaintances. He called someone from Bajwa in Vadodara district, where many migrant labourers from south India live, and a lawyer from Ahmedabad came to his aid,” he said.

The inspector added that the owner of the car did not press any charges against Tutinayaka nor did the migrant press charges against the villagers. “He wanted to go back to his native place,” the inspector said.

Jadhav also said that Tutinayaka had two cases of theft against him in Majlapur and JP road police stations in 2021. “We don’t know why and how he reached the village, and for how many days he was here,” he added.

According to Sheikh Mohammad Hanif Mandali, an advocate from Ahmedabad, he got a call from someone in Bajwa on March 16 evening and reached Sanand police station. “He (Tutinayaka) was in search of work… the place was not known to him… he was wandering… he did not have money, so probably tried stealing,” he said, adding that the migrant was beaten up by the villagers of Telav, though not severely.

“We used Google translator to communicate with him, as he only knew Tamil, and got to know that he only wanted to go back to his native place in Chennai. He did not want to file any complaint. I brought him back to Ahmedabad, and gave some money for him to go back by a train enroute Mumbai on March 17. He has two cases registered against him in Vadodara for theft.”