Bidar: “They were definitely childlifters. They carried sharp weapons, masks and gloves in their vehicle, besides chocolates. Had not a couple of villagers from nearby Bhatkul thanda arrived and alerted the villagers working in the fields, they would have carried away one of our girls or boys,” say the angry people of Handhikera thanda, who are being hounded by the police for the lynching of a techie, Mohammed Azam from Hyderabad at Murki Cross last Friday.
“Our people have seen the weapons the men carried. If they were not kidnappers, why did they wait at a secluded spot that is notorious for dumping of dead bodies and flee when questioned by the villagers? Why did they offer chocolates to school boys and girls who were returning home? They could have gone to the school and offered them the chocolates there instead,” they argue heatedly.
“Although the police have recorded our children’s statements, they are not ready to believe them,” adds an angry woman.
The children’s version of the incident too is very different from that of the men in the car. Recounts Pushpa (name changed), a ninth standard student of Handikhera tanda, “Fourteen of us from here go to Murki village (which is about eight kms away) for studying. Last Friday evening around 4.30 pm, when we got down from a bus at Wagangera Cross to walk home, we saw a red car by the roadside. As one of the boys reached the vehicle, one of the men from the car came out and threw a handful of chocolates at him. When we girls reached the vehicle, he told us to take some of the chocolates too. But we were scared and tried to walk past him. Then one of the men dragged a boy from Bhatkula thanda and tried to persuade him to eat the chocolates, but he started crying. Another man took my hand and asked me to have a chocolate as well. But I was scared and began to cry. At this point, two adults from Bhatkula thanda happened to arrive at the spot and raised an alarm. The farmers, who were working in the fields ,rushed out and began to question the men. In the melee, some beat them up. On seeing the crowd they fled in their car.” (The car later skidded off the road and the men were surrounded by the angry villagers, who attacked them). The girl also claims that when the villagers searched the car, they found knives, gloves, masks and other items.
