Investigators, so far, have no clarity on what drove Mohd Sajid, who ran a barber shop across the victims’ house and was, in fact, on good terms with the family, to brutally attack Ayush and Aahan, aged 13 and six, with a knife
More than 24 hours after the sensational murders of two minor brothers in Budaun in Uttar Pradesh, police on Wednesday were yet to establish a clear motive for what they suspected could be a hate crime, even as officers fanned out across the district to snuff out communal tensions.
Investigators, so far, have no clarity on what drove Mohd Sajid, who ran a barber shop across the victims’ house and was, in fact, on good terms with the family, to brutally attack Ayush and Aahan, aged 13 and six, with a knife. The FIR registered in the case said Sajid, 27, entered the house on the false pretext of seeking ₹5,000 to treat his pregnant wife.
Sajid was killed in a police encounter three hours later, when he was reportedly trying to flee. His brother Mohd Javed, also allegedly involved in the crime, was at large.
Speaking to the media, Budaun superintendent of police (SP) Alok Priyadarshi said that while police had not found any reason to believe that there was an old enmity or dispute between the accused and the victims’ family, the way in which the crime was committed hinted that it could be a hate crime.
“Some people are also talking about occult practices, but we have, so far, not found that to be the case,” he said.
The SP said efforts were underway to arrest Javed as he could shed some light on the motive for the killings. He said the minor brothers’ father, Vinod Kumar Singh, had mentioned in his complaint that Sajid told his wife Sangeeta that he had “completed his work” after slitting the throats of the two children. “Sajid and his brother Javed ran a barber shop across the victims’ house in Baba Colony of the city, and knew the family,” he added.
The suspects’ father, Babu, and uncle, Kayamuddin, meanwhile, have been taken into police custody for questioning. Heavy police deployment is in place across the city to avoid a flare-up of communal tensions. The SP added that a mob vandalised and set the barber’s shop afire. Protesting locals blocked the Moradabad highway for some time. The victims’ bodies were taken for a postmortem examination in police presence.