Ghaziabad police arrest four accused for beating elderly man

Police arrest four people in connection of to beating an elderly man in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on Tuesday. The video, which went viral on social media, shows that some auto-rickshaw drivers brutally thrashed the elderly man at an isolated location and chopped off his beard with scissors.

Ghaziabad: The police on Tuesday have arrested four out of six people for beating and shearing off the beard of an elderly man. As soon as the video of the incident surfaced on the internet, it went viral on several social media platforms on Sunday. The Ghaziabad police said it has already registered an FIR and arrested Parvesh Gurjar, Adil and Kallu for their alleged involvement in the incident which took place on June 5.

Incident reported seven days after the incident

Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak, however, said victim Abdul Samad, a Bulandshahr resident, has not made any mentioned about being forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' or the chopping up of his beard in his plaint. 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 arrested for this case as well.

Amulet did not give the 'desired result'

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. According to the police official, Samad practised occultism and had sold some amulet to Gurjar, claiming that it will '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.

'Every time I cried in pain and uttered Allah they beat me up again asking me to chant Jai Shri Ram'

Meanwhile, showing his injuries from the incident, Samad has said he was abducted from the Gokulpuri area when he took an auto for Loni in Ghaziabad. According to him, two people were already present in the autorickshaw when he hired it and added that two more boarded after moving a small distance, said Samad. He said that 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. They 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.