Gulbarg Society massacre verdict: ‘Mob dragged out Ahsan Jafri, burnt him alive’

Some of the convicts were found to have been in the mob that dragged Jafri out of his house, beat him and “burnt him alive in a fashion that there was no possibility of any remnant of the body”, according to the judgment.

Naran Tank alias Channelwala, a cable operator, has been directly linked to the killing of Jafri and seven others. He was one of the “prime leaders” of the mob that dragged Jafri out of his house. Krishna Kumar alias Krishna was also in the mob that caught hold of the former MP, according to the judgment.

Special judge P B Desai gave observations on all the convicts given life imprisonment, including Tank. “Looking at the fact that the entire incident can be termed communal in nature — a fact not denied by defence also — there is no room for any doubt that looking to the provocative slogans that were generally being chanted, looking to the fact that accused is positively guilty…,” the judge observed.

[related-post]

Watch Video: What’s making news

Convicts Yogendrasinh Shekhawat, Lakhnasinh Chudasama and Dinesh Prabhudas Sharma were found guilty of murdering two women and two children. Shekhawat and Chudasama had also been booked for rape, but the court dismissed the allegation.

The court said that witnesses’ testimonies “are not sounding realistic or truthful”.

Kailash Lalchand Dhobi and Raju Tiwari were held responsible for starting the entire chain of events — murder, carnage and destruction in the society — around 1.30 pm, when the mob broke into the compound. Dhobi was armed with a sword, and he attacked and killed at least five persons, the court said.

Jayesh Jinger, armed with a weapon, set fire to properties in the society and burned the bodies, the court found.

Jinger dragged one Salim Babubakakar and hacked him to death, and also threw a brick on the chest of another victim who later died, the court held, adding that he disposed of bodies by pouring an inflammable substance on them and setting on fire the front of Jafri’s house. He killed no less than four to five people.

Similarly, Bharat Taili and Bharat Rajput killed three women. Jayesh Parmar was involved in killing four or five women and children, who had rushed out of Jafri’s residence after it was set on fire, the court held.