On way to meet girl, youth beaten to death in UP village

Baari’s uncle Israr Ahmad, who lodged the complaint, however, told The Indian Express the murder had “no Hindu-Muslim angle” and that Baari was not on his way to meet the Dalit girl when killed, as registered in the FIR. He blamed the murder on personal enmity.

District SP Virendra Kumar Mishra said it was “not a case of lynching”, or “a case of Hindu-Muslim enmity”, “but of murder in a love-related matter”. “The youth was in relationship with a girl and had gone to meet her around 11 pm in Maraucha. The locals saw him and attacked him, following an argument. A police team reached the spot soon after. The body was sent for postmortem. An FIR has been registered against eight accused and all would be arrested soon,” he said, adding that there was no law and order problems and the situation was peaceful.

The FIR says Baari, who belonged to Hathinaraj village, had gone to neighbouring Maraucha late on Friday night on his motorcycle, along with his help Abhishek. When the attack happened, Abhishek managed to escape and told the family what had happened. Additional SP Avanish Mishra said Ahmad rushed to the spot and took Baari to hospital, where he died a few hours later. The postmortem report confirmed injuries as the cause of death.

Abhishek has reportedly identified the eight accused as Manoj, Pawan, Shivratan, Budhram, Raghuveer, Jawahir, Sher Bahadur and Ram Kewal, all residents of Maraucha village. Budhram, Raghveer and Ram Kewal have been arrested. The FIR has been registered against them under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 302 (murder).

Ahmad told The Indian Express that the murder was the result of personal enmity. Asked why he had said in the FIR that his nephew was killed when on way to meet a girl, he said the report was registered based on what Abhishek had told them.
Claiming he did not know why Abhishek had given a “different angle”, Ahmad said, “Talking to several persons I got to know that accused Sher Bahadur has enmity with one Thakur Sahab in his village and Abdul used to talk to Thakur Sahab. On some occasions he even helped him. I have also been told that Abdul had some argument with Sher Bahadur recently.”

Baari’s family, including his parents and three sisters, are settled in Mumbai. Ahmad said Baari stayed in the village to take care of the family’s fishery business.