Tabrez Ansari lynching: In U-turn, Jharkhand Police again slap murder charge against accused

RANCHI: Within 48 hours of Shaista Parveen, widow of mob lynching victim Tabrez Ansari, threatening to commit self-immolation if justice was denied to her, Jharkhand police on Wednesday filed a supplementary chargesheet in the lynching case accusing all the 13 accused of murder.


Parveen had threatened to commit suicide on Monday when the matter of police filing a chargesheet under section 304 of IPC — culpable homicide not amounting to murder — came to light. The incident took place in Dhatkidih village under the Saraikela police station area on June 18.

A press release issued by police bearing no signature on Wednesday stated that two more people, Vikram Mandal and Atul Mahli, have been charged under sections 147, 149, 341, 342, 323, 325, 302 and 295 A of the IPC.

"The police have submitted supplementary chargesheet under section 302 on Wednesday along with other sections of IPC against previously accused 11 persons as well," the release read. Earlier, the accused were charged under section 304 and not under 302 of IPC.

The 11 people against whom chargesheet was filed way back in August included Bhimsen Mandal, Kamal Mahto, Sunamo Pradhan, Prem Chandra Mahli, Sumant Mahto, Madan Nayak, Chamu Nayak, Mahesh Mahli, Kushal Mahli, Satyanarayan Nayak and Prakash Mandal.

Justifying the supplementary chargesheet and reason for using section 302 of IPC in the supplementary chargesheet, the release said, "Earlier the postmortem report was inconclusive about the cause of death and viscera was preserved. In the report issued by the Forensic Science Laboratory cause of death was stated to be heart attack but the cause of cardiac arrest was unclear in this report. In the interest of justice and for successful prosecution, police decided to get a report from the expert medical board of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital. On the basis of expert medical team of MGM hospital, a supplementary chargesheet under section 302 of IPC was filed."

The release also mentioned two lines of the doctors report quoting it verbatim: "On the basis of above main findings we opined that the fracture of bone is grievous injury caused by hard and blunt object. The combined effect of fracture of bone, pale organs and heart chambers full of blood caused the heart attack."

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The state police have reassured that there won't be any lapses in the case. "Taking prompt action, we had arrested 11 people accused in the lynching case within 72 hours and have conducted all the investigation in proper interest of justice," the release read, adding that Jharkhand police has dealt with all cases with utmost sincerity and till date 66 accused in different cases have been sentenced.