In a video on social media, an elderly Muslim man has accused four men of beating him up, chopping his beard and asking him to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' in the Loni area of Ghaziabad.
The Ghaziabad police said it has already registered an FIR and arrested one man, Parvesh Gurjar, for his involvement in this alleged incident which took place on June 5 but was reported to police two days later.
Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak, however, said victim Abdul Samad, a Bulandshahr resident, had not made any allegation of being forced to chant Jai Shri Ram or the chopping up of his beard, in his FIR lodged on June 7 with a delay of two days.
"How come he is making new allegations now on June 14?" asked Pathak, suspecting someone else of instigating him of making new allegations.
Ghaziabad (Rural) SP Iraj Raja said Gurjar was arrested a few days after the incident for his role in some other criminal case, but he was found involved in beating up Samad too, so he was put under the arrest in this case as well.
Raja said the motive behind the beating up of Samad by Gurjar and his associates was a dispute between the two over the purchase of an amulet.
Samad also practised occultism and had sold some amulet to Gurjar, purportedly to free one of his family members from some "evil effect" but a dispute arose between the two as there was no desired result of the amulet, Raja said.
After Gurjar's arrest, the police repeatedly summoned Samad to join the investigation, but he never came to the police, the SSP said, adding he was also summoned for Monday, but he is yet to appear.
Meanwhile, showing his injuries in the video, Samad has said he was abducted from the Gokulpuri area when he took an auto for Loni in Ghaziabad.
The autorickshaw had already two people in it when he hired it while two more boarded it a little distance ahead, said Samad in the video, adding the four suddenly pounced upon him inside the auto, covered his head with a piece of cloth and began beating him up.
"They eventually drove me to a secluded house in a field in Behta Hazipur village of Loni where they further beat me up while asking me to chant Jai Shri Ram," alleged Samad in the video.
"Every time I cried in pain and uttered Allah they beat me up again asking me to chant Jai Shri Ram instead," said Samad.
"They even chopped my beard, calling me a Pakistani spy," he said.
