Mohammed Farid alias Aurangzeb died after he was allegedly beaten with iron rods and dragged through the streets of the Mamu Bhanja locality on the night of June 18 by a mob over suspicion of theft in a house owned by the cloth trader Mukesh Mittal.

Mittal’s wife Suman claimed that around 10 pm June 18, she was busy in the kitchen when eight to nine men barged into their house and snatched her gold chain at gunpoint. She alleged that they dragged her to the almirah, forced her to hand over the keys and took around Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and other valuables. She also said they tried to molest her and other women in the house. The police said she named seven of the accused, including the deceased Farid and his brother Mohammed Jackie.

“After looting cash and jewellery, one of them directed others to escape, saying that he would follow them after checking more valuables were left in the house. When they were escaping, one among them fell on a staircase and was overpowered by my husband and the son while others, including the one left in the house, managed to escape,” she told the police.

“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 held responsible for the lynching had already been arrested and sent to jail following the complaint lodged by the victim’s brother Mohammed Jackie.

Lynching and its fallout

According to the police, Farid was attacked after he was seen coming out of Mittal’s home and running towards the main gate. As Mittal’s son Rohit, who had stepped out to see off a visiting friend, confronted the stranger and raised an alarm, he fell off the stairs and was soon overpowered by members of the Mittal family and others who assembled there, the police said.

In videos of the incident doing the rounds on social media, the man is seen being beaten up 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.

The lynching kicked up a political row, with Opposition party members alleging that the local police were under pressure from the state government to go soft on those responsible. Hindu organizations, including Bajrang Dal and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, threatened to launch an agitation if the jailed men were not freed soon.

On June 19, leaders of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, and the victim’s family members held a sit-in to demand the arrest of three other accused in the case. In response, Bajrang Dal leaders threatened to organize a protest if the police protected alleged thieves.

The state Congress unit chief, Ajay Rai, along with two MPs, including Imran Masood from Saharanpur, visited Farid’s house on Saturday 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.

The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha members met on Saturday at the residence of the outfit’s chairperson, Gauri Pathak. They decided to hand over bangles to the local BJP representatives, including MPs, for their inaction in ensuring the release of those jailed for the alleged lynching.

“Farid sneaked into the house of Mittals for theft and was caught. Now, his family members are in an agitation and demanding compensation of Rs 1 crore besides a government job to a family member. If this is the trend, I will urge all the country’s unemployed youths to indulge in house thievery. If they die in the process, we will agitate for adequate compensation for their family and will ensure a government job to a member of their family,” said Pathak.