'God knows what kind of charges were framed against him and Kallu Gujjar, as both of them came out of jail the very same evening of their arrest.'
The assault in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, of 72-year-old Abdul Samad Saifi gets curiouser by the day.
On Saturday, June 19, the Uttar Pradesh police arrested Samajwadi Party leader Ummed Pahlwan Idrisi, who posted a video on Facebook Live along with Abdul Samad where the senior citizen claimed he was forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' by a man named Parvesh Gujjar and then beaten up.
In the video, Samad also alleged that Parvesh and another person named Kallu Gujjar shaved off his beard.
This video went viral and was tweeted by Alt News journalist Mohammad Zubair before withdrawing it subsequently.
The UP police arrested Ummed Pahlwan Idrisi stating that he had uploaded the video to disturb communal peace without verifying its contents.
Before his arrest, Ummed Pahlwan Idrisi, pictured below, spoke to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.
The Ghaziabad police says no 'Jai Shri Ram' is heard in the original video. And yet you claim that Abdul Samad was made to chant the slogan.
The statements which the police are showing of Chacha (Abdul Samad) are false. The police has made a false case (out of the incident).
Secondly, whatever Chacha said on my Facebook Live is there for everyone to see. There is no addition or subtraction in those comments.
Did you lodge a police complaint with Abdul Samad after he was beaten up?
Yes, we did. I have video proof of that too. I went to the police station on June 6, a day after the incident took place, but our FIR was not registered by the police.
On June 7, I made this video on Facebook Live. Soon after my video was uploaded, in three hours the police registers our case, but under minor sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Did Samad know Parvesh Gujjar when he went from Bulandshahar to meet Parvesh at Loni in Ghaziabad?
He told me he can identify the people who beat him up.
My question is whether Abdul Samad knew Parvesh Gujjar from earlier because the police says this case is not communal but a personal dispute between him and Parvesh.
I have no idea about this. Chacha told me he sat in an auto and then he was taken away by three people. He was taken to one home and beaten up.
Why would someone target Abdul Samad out of the blue? The police says he used to sell taweez (amulets) and Parvesh felt he had done some black magic on him.
Here, the issue is not of amulet or even Jai Shri Ram. We respect Lord Ram.
The truth is that even if these people had a problem with Chacha they could have gone to the police and lodged a complaint against him under IPC Section 420, but they did not do that. They beat him up.
Did anyone die because of Chacha's amulet?
What is the angle involving another accused, Aadil? The police says he was also involved in beating up Abdul Samad and therefore this incident is not communal.
When Parvesh Gujjar was picked up by the police he was in a gymnasium owned by Aadil. He thought Aadil was involved in trapping him so he named him.
And most importantly, why did this video of Chacha getting beaten up go viral on June 9 when the incident happened on June 5?
Who made the video go viral? The police must inquire into this matter.
Abdul Samad claimed on Facebook Live that he was made to chant Jai Shri Ram by Parvesh Gujjar though in the original video there is no slogan.
This video was shot by the accused, Parvesh Gujjar. It was shot on a phone owned by Parvesh Gujjar. And when he goes to jail, this video goes viral.
He realised that since he was going to jail it is better that he becomes famous among the Hindutva group so he did it.
God knows what kind of charges were framed against him and Kallu Gujjar, as both of them came out of jail the very same evening of their arrest.
Now they want to trap me because I was the first to raise this issue on Facebook Live. I didn't do this for any political gain.
But you are from the Samajwadi Party?
I am a small-time social worker.
The video on Facebook Live with Abdul Samad has your photograph with (SP President) Akhilesh Yadav in the background.
I am a small-time Samajwadi Party leader. How can you drag the SP into this issue?
I am mentioning it because assembly elections are due in Uttar Pradesh next year and your party must be trying to score brownie points to divide people on religious lines, as your political opponents allege.
You say Abdul Samad was made to say Jai Shri Ram when the truth is he was not made to do so.
Who said he wasn't made to chant Jai Shri Ram?
The police is saying it.
A man whose beard was forcefully shaved is wrong and you are saying the police is right?
When the police caught Parvesh Gujjar they should have asked him who are his other accomplices, but they did not do that and gave a twist to the issue by saying we caught two Muslims and two Hindus.
What is going on? The UP government and police are making the Ghaziabad issue into a Hindu-Muslim issue, not me.
But they say it is SP leaders like you who are making it a Hindu-Muslim one.
The SP is a party where there is never a Hindu-Muslim issue. SP means sab ka saath, sab ka sammaan.
You are not answering the main question. What was Abdul Samad doing in Loni that night? Did he know Parvesh Gujjar from before the incident?
The police must tell us this. You are saying an amulet was the issue and let me repeat, you are saying so. You just tell me who cut Chacha's beard?
There are other accused among whom Aadil is also involved.
This is the whole problem. The beard was cut by Kallu Gujjar and you are taking the name of Aadil. I am talking of Kanpur and you are talking of Lucknow.
Why are you not producing Abdul Samad to clarify the issue?
His health is very bad. He was beaten up very badly. His medical check-up was also not done.
I was being pressurised that I should not bring him in front of the media, but now when I am being trapped, I will surely bring him before the media.
Will Abdul Samad tell the media what the real issue is?
You see how the police has solved this case. They arrested Kallu Gujjar and released him the same day. He was charged with rangdaari (extortion). You check out the charges and what it says about the investigation.
