An innocuous act of entering a Ganesh Chaturthi pandal in the hope of getting some food cost a mentally challenged man his life in Northeast Delhi’s Sunder Nagri where locals, accusing the
26-year-old of stealing prasad, mercilessly beat him to death after tying him to a pole, police said.
Police said they have arrested six persons — Kamal (23); his brother Manoj (19); his employee Yunus (20); Kishan (19), a labourer; Pappu (24), a factory worker; and Lucky, who runs a momo stall — and apprehended a minor, aged 17, in connection with the murder of Isar Mohammad.
The victim’s family claimed the accused tortured him for hours and left him to die on the streets. As per police sources, the man was tortured for at least three-four hours by the accused who also shot a video of the incident.
“The accused claimed that around 5 am, they caught Isar lurking around the area and thought that he was a thief. They asked him questions but he was unable to reply properly since he was mentally challenged. They then tied him to an electric pole and thrashed him,” said DCP (Northeast) Joy N Tirkey.
A senior officer said the post-mortem report shows blunt force injuries all over the victim’s body, including his head, back, arms, and legs. The cause of death is said to be “shock and hemorrhage”.
In the video shot by the accused men, two men are seen purportedly beating the victim with sticks while others hurl abuses at him. Another man is seen kicking the victim on his head before fleeing from the spot. Almost six hours later, Isar was found injured and rushed home where he succumbed to the injuries.
On Wednesday, Isar’s family claimed he was not a thief and had only picked up some food because he was hungry. They said he worked odd jobs to support the family. He is survived by his father and four sisters. Isar’s father, Abdul Wajid (60), is a fruit vendor in
the area.
Police said the incident took place hardly 400 metres away from Isar’s home where he spotted a platform (chowki) with some prasad and food items lying around. Police said he was surrounded by a group of 5-6 locals who beat him up on suspicion of theft and tied him to a pole.
An officer said he was beaten up from 5 am to 9 am. Around 2-3 pm, Isar’s neighbor, Amir (17), found him lying near a shop and dropped him home in an e-rickshaw.
Said Tirkey: “He reached home around 3 pm but his sisters didn’t understand what to do and waited for their father. The father came home around 6.30 pm and consulted his family. In the meantime, the man succumbed to the injuries at his home. The father called the PCR at 10.45 pm.”
Isar’s family claimed locals did not intervene to save Isar. His sister Imrana said, “Even if he did steal some prasad, did he deserve this? We know he was not a thief. He must have been roaming around. My brother was innocent…”
She further said, “He was brought home around 3-4 pm. He could hardly speak. We were too scared to do anything. We thought he was unwell…we later found he was assaulted.”
Isar’s father said that his son told him that “the boys at G-4 block in Sunder Nagri” accused him of stealing prasad and tied him to a pole.
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He said, “My son never did anything wrong. He told me how he was thrashed. They picked up stones, bricks, sticks… they even tried to pull his nails. After untying him from the pole, they took him to other places in the area and beat him. I didn’t know what to do when I saw him. His sisters also didn’t know anything.”
Paramilitary forces have been deployed outside the victim’s house, at the spot, and in the area to maintain peace.
The family and police also denied allegations that the victim was carrying any weapon.
