BELAGAVI: The family of Mohammed Azam (32), who was lynched by a mob at Murki near Bidar on Friday evening, has demanded that the Telangana government intervene to ensure that the perpetrators of the crime get stringent punishment.
This request from the family came a day after BJP MLA Prabhu Chavan claimed that Azam was not lynched, but died of injuries he received in the car accident. “My brother has been brutally attacked and beaten to death by a group of people in Karnataka. My family appeals to the Telangana government to coordinate with its Karnataka counterpart in the ongoing investigation and ensure speedy justice,’’ said Mohammad Aslam, brother of Azam.
Speaking to The New Indian Express on Monday, Aslam dismissed the MLA’s claim that his brother had died of injuries he sustained after the car in which he was travelling overturned. He said, “He died only because of the injuries he received when people beat him up. Although the car overturned at Murki, he died only when he was brutally attacked by the mob.’’
He said Azam had been working with Google for the last few months. “He hails from a middle-class family and our father works in the Accounts Department in Indian Railways in Hyderabad. Azam, who got married just two years ago, is survived by his parents, brother, wife and an 18-month-old son.”Meanwhile, Director General of Police Neelamani N Raju is directly monitoring the case, and conducted a video-conference meeting with top police officers of Bidar on Monday.
According to highly placed sources, the post-mortem and forensic reports of Azam’s body are expected to be disclosed by the police within the next few days, which are expected to throw more light on the nature of injuries Azam received that led to his death. Of the 28 people arrested by the police, two each are women and juveniles. Except for the juveniles, all the arrested have been lodged in Kalaburagi jail.
Several people from a tanda (a hamlet) where Azam and his three friends stopped their car to distribute chocolates to children were among those arrested. Sources said MLA Chavan issued a statement that Azam died in the accident only to protect the arrested, without verifying facts.
It has come to light that a group of attackers were lying in wait for the car in which the four friends were travelling. They had placed several boulders on the road to stop the car and attacked the inmates. According to eyewitnesses, the car first hit a boulder before it skidded, rammed into a small bridge and overturned. None of the four had received serious injuries in the incident before they were pulled out by the attackers and assaulted, an eyewitness said.