The Indian Minority

FACEBOOK FALL OUT! PUNE IT PROFESSIONAL KILLED IN COLD BLOOD FOR POSTING AGAINST BAL THAKERAY

Facebook post has cost the life of a young IT professional in Pune. Mohsin Sadiq Shaikh, a twenty four year old techie from Solapur district was killed allegedly by members of a radical Hindu outfit, Hindu Rastra Sena after pictures of Shivaji and Bal Thackeray with remarks were uploaded on Facebook that had triggered communal tension across Pune over the weekend.

Mohsin worked as an IT manager with a private firm in Pune and was returning home with a friend after offering namaaz in Bankar colony, Hadaspur in Pune district. Seven people belonging to the Hindu Rastra Sena have been arrested in this regard.

The Crime Branch also questioned Hindu Rashtra Sena chief Dhananjay Desai who was later taken in custody in connection with a different matter at Pune Cantonment police station that related to distribution of objectionable pamphlets in March this year.

Mohsin’s friend Riyaz who was accompanying him during the incident, later recalled that Moshin was targeted only because he was wearing a skull cap and had a beard.

After the assailants had left after brutally beating Mohsin, a police team reached the spot. With the help of motorcycles and wooden sticks that were left back by the assailants, the police was able to identify them. The assailants were arrested on Tuesday. Mohsin was admitted to a private hospital where he was declared dead early on Tuesday morning.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Manoj Patil confirmed that all the seven accused were associated with the Hindu Rashtra Sena. The photographs of Shivaji and late Balasaheb were uploaded on Facebook and had been circulated through WhatsApp through the weekend that led to the flare up in Pune. The activists of Hindu outfits and political organizations indulged in violence and arson and more than 200 public transport buses and private vehicles were also damaged.

To control the situation, police called Mohalla and peace committee meetings. Despite that a “rumour” of Muslims pelting a Shivaji statue with stones escalated the tension in many other areas of the city.