Conflicting claims as Loni limps back to normalcy

Police said FIRs had been registered against 150 people on Monday night for rioting and attempt to murder. “Around 30 of them have been named. Based on the FIR, we are conducting our investigation,” a police officer said.

Meanwhile, the family of the auto-rickshaw driver, Jameel, claimed that his murder was a “retaliatory killing”. Jameel’s brother-in-law who was in the auto-rickshaw with him when at the time of the incident said the two assailants on a bike shot Jameel after he was identified as Muslim. Further, he said, Jameel was killed less than a kilometre away from the area where the riots took place, which led the family to believe that the murder was connected to “rumours of the alleged rape”.

Police, however, denied a link between the two incidents.

“An FIR for murder was lodged against two persons based on a complaint made by Jameel’s brother-in-law. He has identified one of the accused, but he doesn’t seem very sure. We are still investigating the link,” Ghaziabad SSP Dharmendra Singh said.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Home Secretary Kamal Saksena on said the girl’s medical examination did not confirm rape and that Jameel’s death was not linked to the first incident. Saksena said Jameel had a tiff with his employer, Zubair, whose auto-rickshaw he used to drive. He said Jameel was murdered while he was returning from Zubair’s house.

Officers said that the girl’s external examination had showed no major injuries, but they were awaiting the pathology report of the internal examination.
“An alternative explanation is emerging for the killing. We have questioned the owner of the auto-rickshaw to investigate if there was an enmity between them,” a police officer said.