On Tuesday, in Ghatal village of Bhiwadi district in Rajasthan, Mohammad Afsar, 26, hailing from Bihar, was beaten to death with sticks. The assailants, travelling in a car, attacked Afsar and his friend Tohibul Ansari in the middle of the road, merely 500 meters away from the Phool Bagh Police Station.
Mohammad Afsar (26), son of Mohammad Firoz, is a resident of Samastipur district of Bihar.
The entire incident was captured in a CCTV camera installed at a nearby shop. In the footage, three persons are seen beating Afsar ruthlessly, ultimately resulting in his death.
“The attackers, after a brief departure, returned to the scene to assault Afsar with a stick, causing severe injuries,” said Ansari, his friend, who narrowly escaped the attack.
“On Tuesday afternoon around 1.30 pm, we were heading towards a dhaba to grab some food after closing our shop. On the way, near a government school, a car came from the front in which three people were sitting and had an argument with us over the side,” Ansari said.
They returned after travelling for 50 meters and started fighting. It was during this confrontation that the driver of the car wielded a blowtorch, causing injuries to Afsar, his friend Tohibul Ansari, recounting the incident, told Dainik Bhaskar that they had just left the shop on foot to have a meal when they narrowly avoided being struck by a car travelling in an irregular manner.
Tohibul is a resident of Shakkar Pura, Begusarai, and shares rented accommodation with Muhammad Afsar in Haji Imamuddin Colony of Ghatal village.
The entire incident took place in just 50 seconds, as captured in the now-viral CCTV footage, in which, it is seen that a car comes near the two youths who were walking. The sequence unfolds rapidly: first, an individual exits from the conductor’s side, followed by the car driver who proceeds to assault Afsar.
The car driver, after getting off, immediately, opens the back trunk of the car and takes out a stick. Meanwhile, both his companions in the car shout at the pedestrian youths.
The car driver hits Mohammad Afsar directly on his head. The attack, consisting of seven blows within six seconds, suggests the assailant was reportedly under the influence of alcohol. While during this time the people present around remain spectators; no one intervenes to apprehend the attackers as they easily fled the scene in the car.
After Muhammad collapsed, it was only then that people rushed him to the hospital, where he was, unfortunately, declared dead. However, onlookers noted the number of assailants’ car.
SP Bhiwani, Yogesh Dadhich, said that the car, bearing Haryana license plates, was linked to a resident of Santhalka village. During police interrogation, the owner acknowledged that his son was in possession of the car at the time of the incident.
While the names of the accused were initially undisclosed, all three persons responsible for the attack have since been identified, said SP Dadhich.
Afsar, who had recently started a tailoring shop in partnership with his friend Tohibul moved to Bhiwadi from Bihar five years ago to support his family.
The deceased was unmarried and second among five sisters and brothers.
