LUKCNOW: YouTuber Salim Vastik, who was attacked over alleged anti-Islamic content and battled for life for over a month in a Ghaziabad hospital, has been found to be a murder convict in a fresh revelation.
According to police sources, Salim, 50, who was arrested by Delhi Police on Saturday, had been absconding for the last 25 years. Ghaziabad Police Commissioner J Ravindra Gaur said Delhi Police reached his residence on Saturday morning and took him into custody after questioning.
Police sources said Salim had allegedly kidnapped 13-year-old Sandeep Bansal, the son of a businessman in Delhi, on January 20, 1995. When the family failed to meet ransom demands, the boy was killed.
Officials said Salim was arrested in the case and later sentenced to life imprisonment in 1997. However, he was granted bail in 2000 and subsequently went missing. Since then, he had been living under different identities across Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Ghaziabad.
He now lives in the Ashok Vihar Colony of Loni in Ghaziabad district, runs a YouTube channel named “Salim Vastik 0007” and frequently posts videos questioning Islamic teachings and madrasa education.
On February 27 this year, Salim was attacked inside his office by masked assailants who arrived on a motorcycle without a number plate. He was stabbed multiple times and suffered 14 injuries, including an attempt to slit his throat. Hearing his screams, the attackers fled, leaving him critically injured.
Neighbours rushed him to a hospital, and he was later referred to GTB Hospital in Delhi, where he underwent treatment for about a month, including two surgeries.
In a related development, Ghaziabad Police shot dead two brothers, Gulfam and Zeeshan, accused of carrying out the attack, in an encounter. According to police, the assault was linked to Salim’s videos criticising Islam and raising issues related to religious teachings.