A day after a 23-year-old man was attacked by a mob in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar for allegedly supporting Bharatiya Janata Party’s Nupur Sharma on social media, police sources told News18 that the main motive is likely to be past personal enmity between the victim and the assailants.
Four main accused were arrested on Saturday in connection with the incident which occurred on August 4. As of now, six people are in police custody.
The police, however, have not been able to find the social media post the victim claims he had put out in support of Nupur Sharma. Investigation is underway in all possible angles, News18 has learnt.
The man, identified as Pratik alias Sunny Rajendra Pawar, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital for injuries to his head and other parts of the body.
The medical report seen by News18 indicated no serious injuries to the victim.
Contrary to news reports that claimed with a sword, sickle, sticks, and hockey sticks on Thursday evening, police said only sticks were used to assault the victim and there was no use of sharp weapons and sickles.
The incident occurred when Pawar and Amit Mane, the complainant in the case, were going to attend an event on his two-wheeler and waiting for a friend near the medical shop, an official told news agency PTI.
While they were waiting for a friend, some men belonging to the Muslim community approached them on two-wheelers. One of them shouted at Pawar saying he had written a post on social media in support of Nupur Sharma and also put the status on Instagram after Kanhaiya Lal, and attacked him, Mane stated in his complaint filed on Friday.
Kanhaiya Lal was allegedly murdered by two Muslim men in June in Udaipur for allegedly sharing a social media post in support of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, whose comments on Prophet Mohammad had caused a huge row.
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