The police have arrested four persons identified as Digambar Pandule, Krishna Wagh, Manoj Mudame, and Basavraj Dhusri.
Team Clarion
LATUR — In a possible hate crime, a 23-year-old woman and her three-year-old girl were killed after four car occupants hurled communal abuses and ran over a bike-borne Muslim family in Maharashtra’s Latur district.
The deceased woman was identified as Iqra while her daughter is Nadiya. Her 27-year-old husband Shaikh Sadiq and son Ahad sustained serious injuries and are undergoing treatment. The incident happened at Ausa-Latur road on Sunday night and an FIR was registered on Wednesday under the charges related to murder, attempt to murder, and rash driving.
In his statement to the police, Sadiq, who gained consciousness on Tuesday, said that the incident occurred when he was coming back home after visiting his sister in the Ausa tehsil. He said a car suddenly swerved in front of his bike creating a dangerous situation.
He objected to rash driving, which led to an argument. Sadiq found that the men in the car were inebriated and they began hurling communal slurs at him. To avoid confrontation, Sadiq apologised and went ahead with his journey. A few kilometres later, the accused followed the family and deliberately ran the car over the two-wheeler, killing Iqra and Nadiya instantly, while Sadiq and his son survived with serious injuries and were left unconscious at the scene.
A video of one of the accused also surfaced on social media in which he is describing the chronology of the incident and confessing to the crime.
The police have arrested four persons identified as Digambar Pandule, Krishna Wagh, Manoj Mudame, and Basavraj Dhusri.
“The injured man gained consciousness only on Tuesday. Our team then recorded his statement and registered a case against the four accused present in the car, and nabbed them,” Latur Superintendent of Police Samay Munde was quoted by Times of India as saying.
According to Inspector Sunil Rejitward, soon after learning about the accident, police teams reached the spot and took the victims to the hospital, where the woman and her daughter were declared brought dead. The man and his son were referred to a higher medical facility.
“The car involved in the incident has already been seized, and an investigation launched,” he said.
The police also confirmed that the victim stated that the accused hurled communal abuses at them and said that they were looking into it.
The last rites for Iqra and Nadiya were held on Monday evening.
Mohammed Akhef, a Special Correspondent at the Times of India who reported the incident, said that the killing was a pre-mediated murder caused by hate against Muslims.
“This is nothing but a premeditated #murder of an innocent woman and her 3 years old daughter. Due to the continuous spewing of hate against #Muslims, people are going to unbelievable limits,” he said on social media.
