Two persons, Ansar Ahmad and Mohd Shahid, are said to be in critical condition and are being treated in the BHU Trauma Centre.
Team Clarion
VARANASI – A man from Nepal went on attacking Muslims with shovel after finding them on a busy road injuring five persons in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi on Thursday night.
The assailant who was identified as Prakash Kumar Manjhi kept attacking the commuters untill he was overpowered by some onlookers in the Bhulupur police station area. A video related to the incident which has gone viral shows that Manjhi armed with shovel is roaming on the busy road. After going forth and back, he found one person wearing skull-cap and long-kurta paijama riding on the bike and attacked him. Soon after this, a group of people ran towards him and overpowered him.
As per the reports, the attack began when Manjhi arrived on a motorcycle and made communal remarks against Muslims before assaulting people. The injured were rushed to the nearby hospital. Among the five injured, three are in normal condition after first aid treatment while two others have been shifted to the BHU Trauma Center. Ansar Ahmad and Mohd Shahid are in the critical condition.
Speaking to local media, an eyewitness Mohammed Tariq said that as soon as he got off his bike, he started saying that Muslims should be attacked.
“There is a conspiracy to carry out this attack to disturb the peace. We have constantly been facing such incidents for a month. In the morning, some people riding on the bike without number plate come and kick and punch our people. Muslim worshippers are targeted. Beard of bearded man is plucked. Sleep of people are disturbed in the night. Muslim are abused,” he said.
Tariq said that they have informed the police about these incidents but no action was taken to avoid such incidents.
After carrying out attacks, Manjhi ran away but he was arrested by the police later.
“We have arrested him and are interrogating him as to why he carried out these attacks on common people. People are saying that he tried to spoil the atmosphere in that area. He kept attacking people whoever he found on the way. The incident has created tension,” said DCP Kashi Gaurav Banswal while talking to media-persons about the incident.
The police are under process of receiving complaint from the injured persons and filing an FIR under the serious sections of the law. The situation is reported to be peaceful in the area.
