A Hindu youth Amit Gupta (25) was shot dead while Sanjay Gupta and Lavish Gupta were wounded in a preplanned mob attack by local criminals Rizwan, Danish, Mohsin, Kamran, Mujeeb and others. Last week, the whole neighborhood of Badi Chhapeti (South Firozabad) was rocked with petrol bombs and gun shots during the all-out, one sided attack on family of Hindu bangle trader Sanjay Gupta.

A dusty locality in Firozpur, UP witnessed a night of terror after a minor dispute escalated into a riot like situation. The trader Sanjay Gupta & his son were shot at while an onlooker Amit Gupta lost his life. Earlier in the day, a labourer Rizwan had gotten into argument with an e-rickshaw driver when their vehicles brushed against each other. Some of the bangles that Rizwan was carrying broke in the accident. Sanjay Gupta intervened in the argument and got Rizwan to leave.

Little did he know that this minor matter will result in a deadly attack by Rizwan and his gang, not just on him but his family and locality as well. Later in the night, a mob of 15-20 people descended upon the neighborhood and started throwing petrol bombs and firing indiscriminately at Sanjay Gupta’s home. As Sanjay Gupta fell down injured, his son Lavish came downstairs to rescue him but he too was shot at and wounded by the assailants. In the indiscriminate firing, another youth Amit Gupta from the neighborhood got shot and he died later in the hospital.

Amit Gupta is survived by an aged father and divyang mother. The family had already lost their second son and now with Amit gone as well, the mother is inconsolable. Having lost both her sons, she has neither means nor the will to live on.

The locality was tense after the shootout and next day local traders association called for a strike till the perpetrators are caught. Alarmed by the brazen attack, the local administration called in CRPF along with local police to contain the situation.

The assailants, who were identified with the help of eye witnesses and CCTV footage were mostly known criminals. Danish already has 10 cases against him. He was also active in anti-CAA rioting. In December 2019, Firozabad Police had released a list of 100s of rioters who had indulged in violence while opposing Citizenship Amendment Bill. Mohsin has an attempt to murder case against him whereas Mujeeb was booked under National Security Act in 2002. All these have been arrested by police and a pistol and live cartridge has been recovered from Danish which was presumably used in the violence.

Prime accused Rizwan aka Sunny had fled to Delhi on the same night, but came to surrender after a week once the matter had ‘cooled off’ and has been sent to jail. One country-made pistol has been recovered from him. One accused, Zubair, is still absconding.

The English media which is known to cover crime in Yogi-ruled Uttar Pradesh aggressively, has for some reason, chosen to downplay this incident in which one section launched a violent assault on an entire neighborhood, using firearms and petrol bombs indiscriminately, killing an innocent man. In their perfunctory coverage up of the incident, none of the known English media outlets have pointed out that a Muslim mob was responsible for the death of an innocent Hindu, something they never fail to do when the victim is Muslim. Neither have they mentioned criminal history of assailants or their role in anti CAA violence.

The notorious news agency PTI, whose feed is used by several English-language outlets like Economic Times, in its report has claimed that “both sides indulged in brick-batting and opened fire”, allegedly quoting SP Sachindra Patel. So they are insinuating that the victims (Gupta family and other Hindus of the neighbourhood) also used firearms which is not confirmed by any police record or eye witnesses.

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