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No One Killed Tabrez Ansari: Police Drop Murder Charges Against All 11 Accused

Tabrez Ansari was beaten for hours and forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Hanuman' on June 18. This was all caught on camera.
Tabrez Ansari in a screengrab from the video where he is seen being brutally beaten.
Twitter.
Tabrez Ansari in a screengrab from the video where he is seen being brutally beaten.

Murder charges against those accused of lynching 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari to death have been dropped because Ansari’s post-mortem report said that he died of a cardiac arrest.

NDTV reported that the police did not register a case of murder, but that of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the 11 people accused of the attack.

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In a video widely circulated on social media, Ansari was seen being thrashed on June 18 and being forced to chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ in Jharkhand’s Seraikela Kharsawan. Ansari was said to have been thrashed for hours. He was also accused of theft.

He died two days later on June 22.

Karthik S, Saraikela-Kharsawan SP told The Indian Express, “We filed a chargesheet under IPC section 304 because of two reasons. One, he did not die at the spot… the villagers did not have any intent to kill Ansari. Second, the medical report did not substantiate the murder charge. The final post-mortem report said Ansari died due to cardiac arrest and that a haemorrhage in the head was not fatal. The second medical opinion said the cause of death was a combination of cardiac arrest and the head injury.”

In the video Ansari is seen being verbally abused and physically assaulted. He is seen begging to be freed. The perpetrators keep asking him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’. The crowd was seen cheering.

Ansari was rushed to the Saraikela Sadar (district) Hospital after he complained of uneasiness on 21 June. On 22 June, he was referred to the Tata Hospital in Jamshedpur, where he was declared brought dead.

Ansari was handed over to the police on June 18 after the incident and was was in judicial custody.

When NDTV asked SP Karthik S about the claims of Ansari’s family that his head sustain severe injuries he said, “That you have to ask the medical experts. I am not expert in that case. When we had doubts, we went for a second opinion. The experts have given their opinion that he died of a (cardiac) arrest because stress — mental or physical ailment.”

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.