The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday granted bail to six of the 13 people arrested in connection with the killing of Tabrez Ansari, reported PTI. Ansari, 24, was lynched by a mob in in Seraikela-Kharsawan district in June.
The advocate of the six accused, AK Sahani, told Justice R Mukhopadhyay that neither their names were mentioned in the first information report registered in connection with Ansari’s death nor the main accused had implicated them during police interrogation. The counsel also pointed out that it was not clear from the video of the incident that whose hit caused Ansari’s death, reported India Today.
The six accused – Bhimsen Mandal, Chamu Nayak, Mahesh Mahali, Satyanarayan Nayak, Madan Nayak and Vikram Mandal – have been in jail since June 25.
A mob caught Ansari in Dhaktidih village in Seraikela-Kharsawan district while he was allegedly attempting to steal a motorcycle on June 18. He was reportedly tied to a pole and beaten for 12 hours. The police took Ansari into custody and produced him in a court, which sent him to judicial remand. According to the police, Ansari fell ill on June 22 and was taken to a hospital, where he died. The FIR said that the mob had also forced Ansari to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman”.
In September, the Jharkhand Police dropped the murder charge in the first chargesheet, contending that Ansari had died of a cardiac arrest due to stress and not because of injuries. However, after facing flak, the Jharkhand Police reinstated murder charges against the 13 accused.
Weeks after the incident, a civil rights group from Jharkhand had found lapses in the treatment of Ansari. A three-member investigating team set up by Seraikela-Kharsawan district officials found that police negligence and lapses on the part of doctors led to Ansari’s death. Their reports also stated that the police failed to respond in time and that doctors failed to diagnose his health condition properly.
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