Fareed was booked after the wife of one of the accused, arrested in the case related to his killing, filed a complaint against him.
Team Clarion
ALIGARH – Mohammed Fareed alias Aurangzeb – 35-year-old, who was lynched by a mob over 10 days ago, has now been booked by the Aligarh police in Uttar Pradesh on the charges of dacoity and harassment.
Fareed was booked after the wife of one of the accused, arrested in the case related to his killing, filed a complaint against him.
The FIR was lodged at the Gandhi Park police station in Aligarh under IPC sections 391 (dacoity) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) based on the complaint of the wife of Mukesh Mittal, who was among the six people arrested by the police for the mob lynching.
On 18 June, Fareed died after he was beaten up with iron rods and dragged in the streets of Mama Bhanja locality over the suspicion of theft.
In her complaint, Mittal’s wife Suman claimed that her gold chain, 2.5 lakh cash and other valuables were looted and she and other women were molested. She named Fareed, his brother Mohammed Jackie and others in her complaint.
“We have lodged FIRs based on complaints from both groups in connection with the (lynching) case. Our investigations in both cases are on,” said Aligarh City Superintendent of Police Mrigank Shekhar Pathak.
He said six people responsible for the lynching had already been arrested and sent to jail following the complaint lodged by the victim’s brother Mohammed Jackie.
Following the lynching of Fareed, Hindutva groups including BJP MLA Mukta Raj held protests in support of the accused demanding their release. They also threatened to launch an agitation if all the accused were not released.
Soon after the incident, local Muslim leaders had urged the administration to immediately arrest all of the accused. In videos of the incident doing the rounds on social media, the victim is seen being beaten with lathis, punched and kicked by the mob. The man is seen being dragged on the road by the mob in one of the videos. A police officer could be later seen carrying an injured Farid on his shoulders to a hospital, where the doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Local leaders said that the local police were under pressure from the state government to go soft on those responsible.
On Saturday, The state Congress unit chief, Ajay Rai, along with two MPs, including Imran Masood from Saharanpur, visited Farid’s house and blamed the Yogi Adityanath government for the persecution of people from the minority community.
“The Congress is with the bereaved family and will launch an agitation if any attempt is made to implicate the family members of the deceased in fake cases. Our MPs will raise the issue in the Parliament,” said Ajay Rai.
