Muslim man thrashed in Ghaziabad: Rahul says such cruelty shameful for society

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday reacted sharply to an incident in Ghaziabad in which an elderly Muslim man was allegedly beaten up, saying such cruelty is shameful for both society and religion.

The Ghaziabad police have ruled out any communal angle, saying Sufi Abdul Samad was attacked by six men - Hindus and Muslims - who were unhappy over the amulets he had sold to them.

The arrested youth have been identified as Kalloo and Adil. Apart from them, Polly, Arif, Mushahid and Parvesh Gurjar were also involved in the incident, Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak said.

The Ghaziabad police had earlier arrested Gurjar, who owns the house where the alleged incident took place.

Tagging a report on the incident, Rahul Gandhi said, "I am not willing to accept that true devotees of Lord Ram can do such a thing."

"Such cruelty is far removed from humanity and is shameful for both society and religion," the former Congress chief tweeted in Hindi.

The purported video which went viral on social media shows four men beating Samad up, chopping his beard and asking him to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' in the Loni area of Ghaziabad.

However, in his complaint, Samad did not mention that his beard was cut and he was compelled to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'.

Samad also practised occultism and had sold some amulets to Gurjar, purportedly to free one of his family members from some "evil effect" but a dispute arose between the two as there was no desired result of the amulet, Superintendent of Police rural Iraj Raja said.

Showing his injuries in the video, Samad has said he was abducted from Gokulpuri area when he took an auto for Loni in Ghaziabad.