A 26-year-old Dalit man, Billipuram Nagaraju, was brutally beaten and stabbed to death on a busy road in Saroornagar in Hyderabad, for allegedly marrying a woman from the Muslim community against their family’s wishes.
Saroornagar police have arrested Syed Mobin Ahmed, 30, and Mohammed Masood Ahmed, 29, for allegedly killing Nagaraju.
The incident took place around 9 pm on Wednesday, 4 May. The couple who were traveling on their two-wheeler were pursued by the woman’s brother and another relative on a bike.
The perpetrators then obstructed the couple and hit the victim with an iron rod on his head and also attacked him with a knife. When onlookers tried to stop them, they were threatened, police said. Nagaraju immediately succumbed to the blows. The victim belongs to the Mala community, categorised as Scheduled Caste in the state.
While the police say that two men were behind the attack, Syed Ashrin Sulthana, the victim’s wife, said that five men were involved in the attack. Ashrin told the media that they were in a relationship since Class 10, and despite Nagaraju approaching her family expressing his intention to marry her, they declined the proposal. “He even told my mother that he will convert to Islam, but still they never accepted the proposal,” Ashrin said.
While Nagaraju is a native of Marpalle in Rangareddy district, Ashrin hails from the neighbouring Ghanapur village in the same district. As Ashrin’s parents did not agree to their proposal, the couple got married on 31 January this year in an Arya Samaj ceremony in Hyderabad.
After their marriage, the couple were living in Panjala Anil Kumar Colony in Saroornagar, and Nagaraju was working as a car salesman. However, suspecting that they were being followed by Ashrin’s family members, the couple had shifted to Visakhapatnam for a brief period, according to reports. They returned to the city just five days ago.
Police Register Case Under Section 302
Assistant Commissioner of Police, LB Nagar zone, P Sreedhar Reddy said, “The woman’s brother and her relative had found the residence of the couple. The victim was attacked with an iron rod and knife. Preliminary investigation revealed that two persons were involved in the incident. We are conducting further investigation.”
The police have registered a case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Speaking to TNM, Saroornagar Inspector K Seetharam said, “The motive is clear. They killed the victim because he belonged to a different religion.”
Meanwhile, mild tension prevailed in the area when BJP activists gathered and raised slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ while demanding justice for the victim. The protesting BJP activists demanded that the accused be promptly punished.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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