Ramesh Babu Shukla was gunned down seven years ago at Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Jajmau Chowki by ISIS terrorists.

Ramesh Shukla’s brutal murder

Seven years ago, Akshay Shukla, a 20-year-old college student, received a devastating call during one of his lectures that shattered his world. The voice on the other end of the line was that of his mother, who was visibly distraught and in tears. She delivered the unthinkable news stating his father Ramesh Babu Shukla, a highly regarded principal and teacher at a local school, had been ruthlessly gunned down on his way home from work.

The tragic incident unfolded near the Jajmau Chowki, approximately 30 kilometres from their residence in Kanpur city’s Vishnupuri colony in western Uttar Pradesh. Ramesh Babu taught Hindi and Sanskrit at Swami Atmaprakash Brahmchari Junior High School and commuted over 60 kilometres daily on his bicycle between the school and their home.

An extremely worried Akshay hurriedly left his lecture and rushed to the crime scene. Upon arrival, he learned that his father had been rushed to Kashiram Hospital in the Gandhigram area. Sadly, by the time Akshay reached the hospital, all that awaited him was the heart-wrenching sight of his lifeless father’s body, covered in blood.

Despite their profound grief, the Shukla family cooperated fully with the law enforcement authorities, emphasizing repeatedly that Ramesh Babu had no known adversaries. A murder case was registered at the Chakeri police station against unknown culprits (FIR number 884 filed on 24 October 2016). However, due to limited evidence, the police eventually discontinued their active investigation.

In the subsequent weeks, the family’s inquiries were met with the frustrating question of whether they had any leads. With no leads to follow, the investigation languished, and the case was eventually closed.

Ramesh Babu’s untimely demise left a profound void in the family. As the sole breadwinner, his sudden absence plunged his family of five into economic hardship. Despite nearing retirement at 60, a significant portion of his income came from private tutoring at home.

Akshay, the youngest of three siblings, had to navigate his college education while his elder brother struggled to secure employment in the private education sector. Ramesh Babu’s dreams of arranging his daughter’s marriage remained unfulfilled.

While the family initially yearned for justice, they eventually began to entertain the possibility that Ramesh Babu’s death might have been a tragic case of mistaken identity.

MP train explosion solves Ramesh’s murder case

Months drifted by, and then, on 7 March 2017, a devastating explosion rocked the Bhopal-Ujjain Passenger train in Madhya Pradesh. The blast, occurring in the vicinity of Jabdi railway station between 9:30 and 10 a.m., tragically claimed the lives of ten innocent people. This act of terror, later revealed as the first assault by the Islamic State in India, was orchestrated by self-radicalized individuals who acted independently, without external support.

Subsequent investigations led to the apprehension of Mohammed Faisal from Kanpur, followed by the arrest of seven more accomplices. The task of solving the train blast incident fell upon the shoulders of Lucknow’s Anti-Terror Squad (ATS).

During Faisal’s interrogation, a shocking revelation emerged. It came to light that five months prior, he had committed a random act of murder near Pyondli village in Kanpur with two partners. Their motivation was to impress the Islamist terror group, ISIS. As the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, it became painfully clear that Ramesh Babu Shukla had been their unfortunate victim.

Further investigations revealed that Faisal had received assistance from Atif Muzaffar, who was also involved in the train blast, and Saifullah, in the murder. Saifullah was killed in a confrontation with anti-terror agencies just days after the train blast. All three individuals hailed from Kanpur.

This disturbing information was conveyed to Akshay’s family through an unexpected inquiry call from an officer in Lucknow a few weeks after the train blast. “The officer inquired about the religious symbols my father adorned, which identified him as a Hindu,” Akshay recounted to SwarajyaMag. “I informed the officer that my deeply religious father wore a Shikha, a kalawa, and a tilak. Everyone affectionately called him ‘Guruji’ or ‘Panditji'”, he added.

The officer’s probing questions regarding the religious symbols worn by Ramesh Babu would soon unveil the unthinkable motive. It became clear that he had been mercilessly executed solely because of his visible Hindu identity. He was a victim of a hate crime, a casualty of a terrorist attack.

The revelation left the family in a state of shock. “Who could have imagined that my father’s Shikha, tilak, and kalawa would cost him his life”, Akshay lamented. In November 2017, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) assumed charge of the murder case.

Further revelations during the trial were deeply unsettling. The assailants had callously waited in their vehicle for a target—a “Qafir” (non-Muslim) passerby. Fate tragically chose Ramesh Babu. The killers had been assigned the gruesome task of murdering a Qafir as proof of their allegiance to the ISIS cause, then sending a video of the act to their handler in Syria as evidence.

Special NIA court convicts ISIS terrorists

Last week, on 4 September, a court delivered a verdict, finding three men guilty of Ramesh Babu’s murder. The NIA Special Court in Lucknow convicted Faisal and Muzaffar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and the Arms Act, including Sections 302, 34, 120B, 16(1)(a), 18, 3, 25, and 27.

According to a statement by the NIA, the convicts were deemed “guilty of killing a retired School Principal in furtherance of the agenda of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), aiming to spread fear and terror among the people”.

The note further explained that these individuals, radicalized by the ideology of ISIS, were “intent on targeting those they considered disbelievers (Qafirs)”, operating under the influence of the criminal terrorist organization ISIS and conspiring to carry out terrorist activities (Jihad) in Bharat by violently targeting non-Muslims. The sentencing for Faisal and Muzaffar is scheduled for 11 September.

In the case of the train blast, the verdict had been delivered earlier this year. Alongside Faisal and Muzaffar, six other individuals—Gaus Mohammed Khan, Azhar, Danish, Mir Hussain, Asif Iqbal, and Atif Iraqi—received sentences. Except for Iraqi, all were sentenced to death by an NIA special court in March.

Following the filing of the chargesheet in Ramesh Babu’s murder in July 2018, Akshay, who had filed the complaint in his father’s murder case, appeared in the Lucknow special court to provide his statement. It was there that he encountered his father’s killers for the first time, albeit through a video call.

Although the killers were not physically present in the court and were instead questioned from jail via video conferencing, Akshay gazed at their faces, attempting to recall any prior encounters with them. “They were strangers. Their faces were unfamiliar”, he recalls.

Over time, the Shukla family has rebuilt a sense of normalcy and financial stability. The brothers have secured employment and started their own families. Akshay’s elder brother now teaches at a private school, while Akshay himself works as a teacher in a government school. Their sister got married last year.

Yet, their mother remains vulnerable to the trauma. “She worries about us a lot”, says Akshay, adding, “Sometimes, she gets anxious when we interact with the media. She also becomes fearful when we go out wearing tilak and kalawa”, he concluded.

(Featured Image Source: SwarajyaMag)