Probe Tabrez Ansari’s death: IIM-B students to Narendra Modi

BENGALURU: Days after the Jharkhand police dropped murder charges against a mob that lynched 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari on June 17 in Jharkhand's Kharsawan district village, a section of faculty and students of Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore (IIM-B) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to order a fresh probe into the death.

Ansari, who worked as a welder in Pune, had returned to his home state in Jharkhand but was lynched by a mob who wanted him to chant 'Jai Sri Ram'. Ansari who was rushed to a hospital died on June 22.

The Jharkhand police had booked 11 accused who were arrested are from the neighbouring Dhatkidih village under Sec 302 (murder) of IPC but the murder charges were dropped following a report that Ansari died of cardiac arrest.

The charges were converted into a culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the IPC.

"We the faculty, staff and students of IIM-B express shock and dismay over how the Jharkhand police have handled the lynching of Ansari. We urge you to act swiftly by directing the Jharkhand government to institute a fresh probe," the letter said.

The letter which bears the signatures of 16 faculty and 85 students and non-teaching staff at the school reads, "As an academic community, it is important that we stand up to the impunity with which the state has abrogated its constitutional duty."

Ansari on the night of June 17 was tied to a pole by a mob and was beaten up with rods through the night while being forced to chant "Jai Sri Ram” and "Jai Hanuman" over an alleged theft. The act was recorded on a mobile phone and
went viral.