30-year-old man shot dead in Prayagraj over remarks on Tablighi Jamaat’s role in spreading coronavirus, accused Md Sona nabbed

Victim Lotan (left), police reached crime scene (right)

On Sunday, a 30-year-old man named Lotan Nishad was shot dead by one Mohammed Sona in the Bakshi Moda area in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh for accusing the Islamic Missionary Movement, Tablighi Jamaat, of endangering the lives of other people. Nishad was shot while he sitting at a tea shop, and he died on the spot.

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Lotan Nishad was sitting at a tea shop in the village at around 9.30 am. While reading the morning newspaper, he got into a verbal confrontation, over the role of Tablighi Jamaat in transmitting the Wuhan Coronavirus, with some people sitting there. Mohammad Sona, who was present there, began assaulting the victim. After sometime Sona brought a gun and fired at him from close range. Nishad fell on the ground and started bleeding.

Sona tried to escape but he was overpowered by the villagers. Lotan was rushed to a nearby hospital but he had died by then. After receiving the information, the cops reached the crime scene. The matter is now being investigated. Two, including the accused Sona and his father Qadir, have been arrested under the National Security Act (NSA). The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, had announced a compensation of ₹5,00,000 for the family of the victim.

The police have recovered a licensed gun from the house of the accused. According to police, preliminary investigation suggests that Sona killed Nishad because Nishad had blamed the Tablighi Jamaat of spreading Coronavirus in the country. Police forces have been deployed in the area to prevent any communal tension due to the incident.

Earlier, a man was assaulted by a mob in Maharashtra’s Solapur district for informing local authorities about those who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi. According to the reports, the 56-year-old man had informed the village ‘Gramsevak’ in Pimpri that about seven locals had attended the Tablighi meet in Delhi’s Nizamuddin and had recently returned to the village. He had insisted that they should be tested for coronavirus. Following this, Tablighi Jamaat attendees in the village were angered by this disclosure of information and attacked the man on Tuesday.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia