Thrashed Kupwara youth dies in Jaipur hospital

Srinagar, Feb 7: A Kashmiri youth, who was brutally thrashed by his colleagues in Jaipur on February 5, died at Sawai Man Singh hospital in Jaipur on Thursday night.
The victim, Ghulam Mohideen alias Basit (19), a resident of Kunan village of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district, was involved in catering work in Jaipur and was allegedly beaten up while he was on his way back home after work, on the midnight of February 5.
Basit reportedly got into an altercation with his coworkers and sustained head injuries after which he was taken to Sawai Man Singh hospital where he underwent treatment.
Recounting the incident, Salman, another event coordinator who knew Basit was quoted saying by India Today, “There were two Kashmiris. They had gone for some work related to the event. When they got free at midnight, some other staff members from Mumbai accompanied them. These boys later had an altercation with the Kashmiri boys and thrashed one of them. On reaching the room, Basit informed his friends that his head was hurting, and that his colleagues had beaten him up. The boy later became unconscious and was rushed to the hospital.”
“The doctors initially said that it was food poisoning but later discovered that he had sustained serious injuries on his head. He was then operated on but he died in the next 24 hours,” Salman added.
An FIR in the case was registered on Thursday. Basit’s body has been handed over to his family.
“Yes, these children were involved in catering work. The boys are between the ages of 17-22 and fought among themselves. After finishing catering work, they were returning to their respective homes at 1:30 am in the night when the altercation took place inside an auto. The altercation was probably because of seating issues in the three-wheeler. Basit was hopitalised soon after that and underwent surgery. He later passed away at the hospital,” Station Head officer of Harmada Police Station told India Today.
“We have arrested one accused so far and others will also be arrested soon. However, we do not see any political angle here,” the SHO added.
One of the accused arrested has been identified as Aditya who originally hails from Delhi. The identities of other accused in the case is not known so far.
“The body has been handed over to the family,” SHO Ramesh confirmed to India Today.
Meanwhile, the natives of Kunan village staged a protest demanding stringent punishment to the killers.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kupwara Ambarkar Shriram Dinakar told IANS “This is not a case of hate crime.”
“It was a case of rivalry between two catering agencies.” The victim had recently left his catering agency in Jaipur and joined a new one.