New Delhi: The 22-year-old Rahul Khan in Delhi succumbed to injuries hours after revealing to his wife that he was brutally beaten up by his three friends who tried to mislead Khan's family by lying he had met with an accident.
According to The Indian Express report, a video emerged in which Khan is seen being beaten up by his friends who were heard telling him that he is a Muslim while they are Hindus. However, the police claimed there was no room to believe that the murder has happened on religious grounds, The IE report says.
The accused have been identified as Aakash alias Diljale, Vishal and Ompal alias Kalua who told the Khan family that he was injured in an accident. His wife said that though initially Khan told doctors that he was injured in the accident, and he was afraid of the accused who had threatened him with assaulting his family if he told truth. Later, Khan told that he was beaten up by his friends by telling "ask Kalua-his friend-why he beat me," she said.
Meanwhile, Khan's father Chiddi Khan, who is a retired Railways employee, told the IE that the family would be in the belief of the accident for his death if the video was not out in which the accused can be heard saying that 'You are Muslim, we are Hindus'.
Demanding a thorough investigation, Chiddi Khan said that the accused should be given severe punishment for the hate crime.
According to police, the fight between the accused and Khan was over hiding a phone by Khan as they were all intoxicated and there was no mention of religion in the statement made by the accused. Thus the police report suggested that Khan was killed because of his religion.
However, Khan's father contested the police claims saying that while his son owns an iPhone why should he steal someone's phone. He also said that his son was subjected to coercion by the accused for money which Khan had refused to give.
A 31-second video clip, allegedly uploaded by one of the accused on Instagram, purportedly shows them hitting Khan on his face with what appears to be a stick.