BHOPAL: The first death of the April 10 Ram Navami communal violence came to light on Monday early morning, eight days after the incident. The victim has been identified as 28-year-old Ibarish alias Saddam Khan.
Ibarish was reported missing for the last one week. His kin identified the body kept in the freezer of Indore's MY Hospital (around 125 km from Khargone) on Monday early morning. The body was moved to the hospital by the police.
It has come to light that Ibarish had gone to pray at the Anand Nagar mosque around 7.30 pm on April 10. He was brutally murdered by as many as 8 unidentified men in the Kapas Mandi area near the mosque.
His body was recovered from the place on the intervening night of April 10-11, a few hours after he was murdered, by unidentified men.
Meanwhile, four days later, based on the family's complaint, a missing person complaint was registered at 11.23 am on April 14. At least 12 hours later a murder case was filed. At that time the youth who was murdered remained unidentified.
It is however surprising, as to why the police, who recovered the body on April 10-11 intervening night, didn't take measures to approach his kin to identify the body when the missing person complaint was lodged by them on April 14 morning.
Also, it's still not clear why the police took more than three days to lodge a murder case after recovering the body, even after the eyewitnesses had told the police that they saw about 7-8 men assaulting the unidentified man on April 10-11 intervening night.
A senior state police officer, presently camping in Khargone, told The New Indian Express that the murder case was lodged on April 14, immediately after getting the final autopsy report, which established multiple injuries on the head and neck inflicted by a sharp-edged weapon.
The senior police officer also added that the body was sent to Indore's MY Hospital later, as Khargone Hospital didn't have a deep freezer facility.
He, however, couldn't explain why it took the police more than a week to call the murdered man's kin to identify the body at the hospital in Indore, particularly when the missing person report and murder case were lodged by Khargone police within a span of merely 12 hours on April 14.
Importantly, Ibarsih's mother Mumtaz, who had been searching for her missing son for 5-6 days, had said on Sunday evening that the police should reveal if her son is in jail or hand over his body if he is no more.
While the senior police official claimed it was a case of murder by rioters, Ibarish's brother Iqhlak, who brought the body to Khargone from Indore on Monday early morning, alleged that he was killed by the police and local residents.
"My brother left home at 7.30 pm on April 10 to offer prayers at Anand Nagar mosque but didn't return. He was killed by people from the other community and police brutally. He was last seen alive for sometime in police custody at the Khargone police station on April 11," Iqhlak alleged.
"The cops did nothing to search for my brother, it was on Sunday when we told one of the police constables that we'll raise the issue in the media that we were informed on Sunday night that Ibarish's body was preserved at Indore's MY Hospital. We subsequently brought it from there in the morning," Iqhlak said.
The senior police officer, however, denied the family's allegations, saying the family after lodging the missing person's complaint was shown on multiple occasions CCTV footage of various places and bodies, including two unidentified bodies recovered in the Barwaha and Kasrawad areas of Khargone district.
Surprisingly, while the FIR [a copy of which is with TNIE] of the April 10-11 murder was lodged at 11.50 pm on April 14, the home minister Narottam Mishra said in Bhopal on Monday that the murder case against unidentified persons was lodged on April 11 only.
A resident of Islampura locality of the communal violence-hit Khargone town, Ibarish was reportedly a safai staff with the local municipality. He had 10 siblings, including 5 brothers and five sisters.
He is survived by his wife and a toddler son.
Meanwhile, sensing the possibility of disturbances in the wake of Ibarish's death and burial, the Khargone district administration cancelled the 8 am to 12 noon four hours relaxation of curfew for Monday. However, the curfew was relaxed for two hours from 12 noon to 2 pm, which remained peaceful.
Curfew was imposed in Khargone town after widespread communal violence in the town, following an attack on a Ram Navami procession near Talab Chowk area on April 10 evening.
Over 30 persons, including around 10 cops, among them then SP-Khargone Siddharth Chaudhary were injured in the violence.
Hindu outfit gives a call for an indefinite shutdown of shops
The Sakal Hindu Samaj, Khargone, meanwhile, gave on Sunday evening a call to all traders of the community to shut down shops indefinitely against what they called was "inappropriate" action by police against the rioters.
Many shops, excluding medicine shops, downed their shutters on Monday during the curfew relaxation period, 12 noon to 2 pm.
In-charge SP of Khargone district Rohit Kashwani, however, denied allegations of the Hindu outfit, saying action is being taken in accordance with law all those so far identified to be involved in the violence.
7 shops gutted in communally sensitive Khandwa district
Meanwhile, seven shops located in a line in the Jalebi Chowk-Mahadev Mandir area of communally sensitive Khandwa district [which neighbours Khargone district] were gutted in a fire on Sunday-Monday intervening night.
According to SP-Khandwa district, Vivek Singh, "the fire happened at around 2 am and within a short time, engulfed all the shops, mostly of automobile parts and repairs. A probe is underway to track the actual cause of the fire."
Out of the seven shops, six were owned by traders from a particular community. "Mischief by anti-social elements to disturb the town's peace cannot be ruled out," Singh said.
The Jalebi Chowk-Mahadev Mandir area of the Khandwa district is known to be communally sensitive and has reported incidents of communal tension in the past.