On 15th September, a 30-year-old young man identified as Malkit Singh alias Veeru was allegedly beaten to death by four of his friends, including Tasavvur and Faizal, for allegedly raising the ‘Hindustan Zindabad’ slogan after watching Sunny Deol starrer film Gadar 2 on his mobile phone. He was beaten so severely that he succumbed to his injuries. Police arrested four accused, all of them were friends with the victim.
As per reports, Malkit watched the blockbuster film Gadar 2 on his mobile phone with a friend and raised the slogan ‘Hindustan Zindabad’ after watching it. The “friends” from another community who were standing nearby allegedly thought he was doing it to tease them. Reports suggest the accused were drunk when the incident happened.
They thrashed him and beat him up brutally while his friend, who was also watching the film, was made to sit on his knees at knife point. He was rushed to the local hospital and was referred to Ramakrishna Care Hospital in Raipur. However, he succumbed to death due to his injuries. Malkit was the son of the head of Khurshipar Gurudwara Kulwant Singh Khursipar.
However, a report by Dainik Bhaskar gives a different account of the incident. According to this report, the incident happened after Malkit Singh was returning on his bike after watching the movie with his friend Fantu. The report says that when they reached near the ITI grounds, 5-6 drug addict youths stopped and abused them. When Malkit Singh protested, they assaulted him. They also forced Fantu to sit on the road at knifepoint when he tried to save Singh.
The culprits fled after severely beating Malkit. The police later arrested four people, including Tasavvur, Faizal, Tarun Nishad and Shubham Lahare. One accused Rahul Singh is still absconding.
As soon as the family of the victim and other members of the Sikh community in the area learned about the incident, they reached the Khurshipar police station to file a complaint. They also blocked the National Highway to protest against the incident and demanded compensation of Rs 50 lakh and a government job for Malkit’s wife.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vijay Baghel and Prem Prakash Pandey also reached the police station. They accused the police of working under pressure.