A Muslim youth was killed and his two associates were injured when a mob attacked them on the suspicion that they were illegally chopping wood in a forest in Rampur area of Bansur tehsil of Rajasthan’s Alwar district on Thursday night. Those who allegedly attacked the three persons included forest officials.
The deceased, Wasim, 27, was driving a pick-up jeep, in which his cousin, Asif, and a friend, Azharuddin, were travelling with him. A crowd stopped their jeep near the Narol village and allegedly attacked them, charging that they were roaming in the area to illegally fell the trees and chop their wood.
The forest officials joined the group of villagers and all of them allegedly thrashed the three youth. The crowd was carrying sharp-edged weapons, sticks and iron rods. Wasim, who was seriously injured in the attack, was taken to the B.D.M. Government Hospital in Kotputli, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Following the registration of a first information report at Harsora police station, the police on Friday detained 10 persons, including four forest officials, for interrogation. Neemrana Additional Superintendent of Police Jagram Meena said the investigation was in progress and the accused would be arrested shortly.
The policemen from Harsora reached the spot on getting the information about a fight between some people. The assailants fled from the scene when the policemen arrived and found the three persons lying on the road. The police rushed Wasim to the Kotputli hospital in view of his critical condition, Mr. Meena said.
In his complaint filed with the police, Wasim’s father Tayyab Khan said his son had purchased the wood from a local dealer during the day and had taken the pick-up jeep to Rampur to load it in the night. The villagers blocked the road with the help of a JCB excavator and forced the youths to get down from their vehicle. Another jeep of Forest Department, which was following them, also reached there.
The police have seized the jeep of forest officials and registered the FIR under Sections 302 (murder), 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (causing hurt) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of Indian Penal Code.
Incidents of mob lynching, starting from Haryana dairy farmer Pehlu Khan’s murder in 2017, have been reported in the past in Alwar district. The cow vigilantes in the district have targeted the cattle rearers carrying the animals several times, but this was the first instance of an attack on suspicion of felling of trees.
