Disturbing Video From Uttarakhand's Kaliyar Shared With False Communal Angle

Kaliyar Sharif Police's SO Dhamendra Rathi told The Quint that both parties were from the same community.

A disturbing video of a man caught with a suitcase containing a woman's corpse is being widely shared on social media, with a communal claim that a Muslim man, purportedly identified as 'Ayaan', killed his Hindu girlfriend in Kaliyar, Uttarakhand.

Some users have shared the video calling it 'Love Jihad,' a term popularised by the right-wing that often refers to a "campaign" by Muslims under which Hindu women are forcefully converted to Islam under the pretext of love and marriage.

However, the gruesome incident is not communal in nature. As per Kaliyar Sharif Police SO Dharmendra Rathi, both the deceased and the accused, identified as Ramsa and Gulzeb respectively, were from the same community. He further stated that there was no communal angle to the incident and that both were distant relatives.

CLAIM

The video is being shared with claims that refer to the man as 'Ayaan', who allegedly killed his Hindu girlfriend and "packed (her) in a suitcase" as she refused to marry him.

Some posts with the same claim also made a reference to 'Love Jihad' and placed the incident at Piran Kaliyar, Uttarakhand.

(Note: We have refrained from including any links to the video due to the distressing nature of the visuals.)

The claim was shared by many on both Facebook and Twitter.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Using keywords, we looked for news reports on the murder in Kaliyar. The results led us to a News18 Hindi article, which also carried a photo of the accused.

This report mentioned that the incident occurred at a guest house at Piran Kaliyar, Uttarakhand, where the couple was staying. It identified the accused as one Gulbez and noted that the hotel staff grew suspicious when Gulbez was stepping out of the hotel and was barely managing to carry the suitcase with him.

The hotel staff stopped Gulbez and made him open the suitcase, where they saw the woman's corpse and called the police, said the report.

Another report on the incident by Etv Bharat identified the deceased as Ramsa and carried a video showing police at the spot. It noted that Gulbez had admitted to killing the girl as she had refused to marry him, despite his insistence.

It also carried a byte by the Haridwar (Rural) SP Pramendra Dobhal, who told reporters that Gulzeb had been arrested under IPC section 302 (punishment for murder) and the suitcase with the corpse, clothes and a knife had been seized in connection to the case.

The Quint contacted Station Officer Dharmendra Rathi of Kaliyar Sharif Police station in Uttarakhand, who denied any communal angle to the murder that took place on Thursday, 24 March.

"The person we arrested is Gulzeb, son of Sanawwar and the deceased was identified at Ramsa, daughter of Rashid. They were both from the same community and were distant relatives."

Station Officer Dharmendra Rathi, Kaliyar Sharif Police, Uttarakhand

Clearly, the disturbing video of a murder in Kaliyar, Uttarakhand is being shared with a false communal 'Love Jihad' angle.

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