Rajasthan: In a gruesome incident, Mohammed Afrazul, 48, a migrant labourer from West Bengal has been killed and burnt by Shambhulal Regar in Rajsamand.
When the accused was killing and burning his body, the entire episode was filmed by his teen nephew who was 14 years of age.
Sita Regar, wife of the accused, after seeing the video of killing which has gone viral, said that “I don’t know why he did this… My husband didn’t have a job… Most of the time, he would smoke marijuana and just roam the streets. But I never thought he was capable of murder.”
Shambhulal Regar was seen attacking with axe like weapon before burning the body and his other videos depict his communal rants against ‘Love jihad’ and ‘Islam.’
The accused after killing Afrazul had been absconding along with his nephew and 12-year old daughter. Later, they were caught by the police on Thursday morning in their relative’s house in Kelwa. The Police had also arrested his nephew.
Inspector General of Police, Udaipur range, Anand Shrivastava, said after preliminary investigation that they “found no reason to believe that Regar was mentally unstable”. He also contradicted the wife’s claim that Regar was a drug addict. “At present, it doesn’t look like Regar was addicted to drugs. Till a year ago, he had a fairly successful marble trading business,” he said. “We have also detained his minor nephew as it was he who shot the videos, including that of the murder.”
After the Police arrested Regar he claimed that he committed the murder because he felt “threatened”. “They ran away with a girl from our colony… I helped her, after which I got death threats. I knew the girl since childhood as her brother used to study with me. They gave me an ultimatum, that I would have to die.”
However, Afrazul’s cousin, Mohammed Salik Sheikh, denied this as baseless allegations and said that “My brother had nothing to do with any such incident and all these allegations are baseless. He has three daughters back home and was nearing 50. Why would this incident from many years ago be the reason for his death.”
In one of his videos shot after the murder, Regar has “warned” “Hindu sisters” not to fall into the trap of “love jihad”. He has made several inflammatory remarks, and also alleged that history was being “changed” under the influence of Islam, mentioning films like Padmavati and PK as well.
Mohammed Mosharraf Khan, his son-in-law says that “We are around 150-200 people from West Bengal who live here in Rajsamand and earn our living by working as construction labourers. Afrazul never had enmity with anyone here.”
The main reason for the murder is the fake propaganda of Right wing extremists who invented the concept of ‘Love Jihad’ which is not real. Their main motive is to hold to the clings of Power. In this process, the communal fabric of society is disturbed and threatens harmonious existence of communities.