Bahraich violence: 5 accused held, two injured in police encounter

They were among five people arrested on Thursday in connection with the clashes that started on Sunday evening in the Maharajganj area of Bahraich, during which a 22-year-old man was killed. The others arrested were identified as Abdul Hameed (62), Mohammad Fahin (19), and Mohammad Afzal (45). Police are also planning to invoke the National Security Act (NSA) against the accused.

The clashes on Sunday began after some local residents allegedly asked for music to be turned off as a Durga idol procession passed through a Muslim-majority area. After a heated argument escalated into clashes and stone-pelting between two groups, 22-year-old Ram Gopal Mishra, a local resident, was allegedly shot and killed.

Police alleged that Mishra was killed inside Abdul Hameed’s house. Additional Superintendent of Police Pavitra Mohan Tripathi said Hameed and his sons, Sarfaraz and Fahin, had already been booked in the murder case, and that the alleged involvement of Taleem and Afzal emerged later.

On Thursday, police said they received information that the accused were attempting to flee to Nepal, after which they set a trap and arrested the five.

Vehicles torched during the clash, in Bahraich on Tuesday. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)

During questioning after their arrest, Taleem and Sarfaraz revealed the location in Bahraich’s Nanpara area, on the border with Nepal, where they had allegedly hidden the weapon used in the murder of Mishra, police said. When they were taken to the spot, the two allegedly pushed the police personnel and ran toward the bushes where weapons were hidden. From behind the bushes, they opened fire at the police team, after which the police fired back, injuring both the accused in their legs. They were then immediately taken to the hospital.

“When the police team went to recover the weapon used in the murder on the information given by the first two (accused), the accused opened fire on the police with the weapons kept there. Both of them were shot in retaliatory firing. They are seriously injured and are being treated. The weapon used in the murder has been recovered,” police said.

Meanwhile, in a video widely shared online, a woman claiming to be Abdul Hameed’s daughter, Ruksar, is purportedly heard saying that on Monday, a day after the Maharajganj clashes and Mishra’s killing, police raided the home of her in-laws in the Keranganj area of Bahraich and arrested her husband Osama and brother-in-law Shahid. She claimed that she has no information about their current whereabouts. The woman also claimed that her father, Abdul Hameed, and her brothers were arrested on Wednesday.

Police personnel keep a vigil at Maharajganj in Bahraich district on Wednesday. (PTI)

There continues to be heavy police deployment in Maharajganj and surrounding areas as tensions persist.

Internet services, which had been cut in Bahraich following Sunday’s clashes, were restored Thursday.

Sources said police were investigating whether the violence was premeditated and if adequate security had been in place along the route of the Durga idol procession when the clashes first erupted.

Speaking to The Indian Express regarding the injuries sustained by Mishra, who was killed on Sunday, Bahraich District Hospital Chief Medical Officer Sanjay Kumar said the body had 25 pellet injury marks and signs of being hit by a blunt object. He said the cause of death of Mishra was “shock and haemorrhage”.

A panel of doctors conducted the postmortem, which was videographed, he said.

Sources said the police are investigating whether the violence was planned and if there was adequate security deployed along the procession route.

So far, 55 people have been arrested in 11 separate cases filed in connection with the violence.