Following the gruesome rape and murder of 26 year old veterinary doctor on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Thursday, Cyberabad police arrested four people with connection to the heinous crime on Friday after collecting technical evidence and checking CCTV footage. The accused are Mohammed Pasha, Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu, Jollu Naveen and Jollu Shiva. All four hailed from the nearby Narayanpet district.

The crime shook the whole of India with many people drawing parallels of this case with the horrific Nirbhaya gang rape case which took place in Delhi on December 2012. However, many other people were quick in communalising the case and calling out the religion of Pasha, one of the perpetrators on twitter. A hashtag, #Balatkari_Mohammad_Nikala is also trending on social media sites.

BJP MLA from Telangana, Raja Singh uploaded a video on twitter talking about the case, where he said that he expected a person with a name like Mohammad to carry out such an act.

Suresh Chavankhe, the editor of right wing channel Sudarshan news asked a question if three Hindus were arrested to balance the arrest of a Muslim, that too forcibly.

Other Twitter users also made such communal claims and statements without delving deeper into the story.

Fact Check

According to fact checking website Boom Live, Cyberabad police issued a statement saying that there was one Muslim and three Hindus who were involved in the crime. “How is it a communal incident?” said a police officer while giving the statement.

In a press conference, Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said that the accused hatched the plan on the evening of November 27 when they saw Reddy park her scooter near their truck at the Tondupalli toll plaza. “Naveen then punctured the scooter’s rear tyre. When Reddy came back and saw the puncture at night, Pasha informed her about the puncture and offered to get the puncture fixed,” Sajjanar added. He also said that Reddy had called up her sister to tell her about the suspicious behaviour of the four people. After claiming that the puncture shops were shut, Reddy was taken to an abandoned room by the four and then raped after which she was suffocated to death. Her body was the wrapped in a bedsheet and burnt with petrol under an under-construction flyover in Shadnagar.”

Conclusion

In times like these, it is sad that people are pointing out to the religion of one of the accused, when in fact people from two different religions are involved in the crime. Giving out half baked information on social media regarding a serious crime is no less than misleading.