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False communal spin added to Delhi’s Naraina murder case

Days after the murder of a youth in West Delhi’s Naraina, a video clip of the alleged incident went viral on social media. Several BJP leaders and supporters of the party such as @ippatel, @nkgurjar4bjp, @ElvishYadav, @HinduITCell, and others (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) claimed that the accused are from the Muslim community and called the incident a ‘mob lynching’.

These tweets were accompanied by the hashtag ‘#Justice_For_Shiva_Gurjar‘.

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BJP’s Kapil Mishra tweeted that Shiva Gurjar was murdered mercilessly in ‘jihadi style’.

Sudarshan News called the alleged murder a ‘Taliban style execution’ thus, insinuating that it was carried out by Muslims.

A video of this incident has been widely shared on Facebook with similar claims.

False communal spin

We performed a keyword search on Google and came across news reports by India Today, Hindustan Times and Times Now. According to these reports, on the night of March 18, Shiva Gurjar, 29, and his friends were visiting the PVR complex in West Delhi’s Naraina, where Shiva’s bike came in contact with an employee of a paan shop. This led to an argument between the shopkeepers and Shiva and in a fit of rage, one of the employees stabbed Shiva in the chest. He succumbed to the injuries.

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According to the police investigation, the employee of the shop was a minor and both the victim and the perpetrators belong to the same community. Delhi police also released a video statement where they have confirmed the same and have dismissed the communal claims made on social media.

Moreover, in a press statement, Delhi police mentioned the names of the adults involved in the case – Dharmender Rai (52), his sons Sachin (22) and Ramanuj (22), and his employee Vakil (23). All of them are residents of Naraina.

A report in The Indian Express states that the fourth accused’s full name is Vakil Ahmed. The report also states that Dharmendra Rai’s minor relative is one of the accused. According to Hindustan Times, the minor stabbed Shiva in the chest leading to his death. This was also confirmed to Alt News by DCP West Delhi Ghanshyam Bansal.

Hence, the gruesome murder of a youth in West Delhi’s Naraina was given a false communal spin on social media.

[Update: Details about the minor accused have been added to the report.]

The post False communal spin added to Delhi’s Naraina murder case appeared first on Alt News.

This post was originally published on Alt News.