Behind camera of gruesome Rajasthan hacking video: Killer’s 15-year-old nephew

A gruesome murder, filmed brazenly on camera and spiked with inflammatory and communal taunts, is reportedly a result of “love jihad”.

In videos circulating on WhatsApp and other social media, a Muslim labourer from West Bengal, Mohammed Afrazul, is seen being hacked to death and burnt by 38-year-old Shambhu Lal Regar.

The content of the clips churns the stomach. Regar, in a red shirt, white trousers and white shoes, is seen attacking the man with an axe. In another footage, he pours petrol over the body in a deserted area lined with trees, and shouts, “Jihadiyo hamare desh se hat jao (Jihadis, leave our country),” and throws a matchstick at the body.

In another clip, a man who looks like Regar rants about launching a war against “Islamic jihad in Mewar”. “This day, 25 years ago Babri Masjid was razed down but nothing has happened even 25 years later,” he is heard saying.

The police in Rajasthan – where the killing took place on Wednesday afternoon in Rajsamand district – arrested Regar on Thursday and will produce him in court on Friday.

Regar told reporters after his arrest that he killed Afrazul to take revenge because he had lured a girl of the (Regar) community to West Bengal a year ago. According to Regar, he brought the girl back from the state. The police have, however, denied any such incident.

The police chief was equally quick to clarify that, “Regar is not associated with any Hindu organisation”.

Udaipur range inspector general of police Anand Srivastav said Regar took his daughter and nephew to the crime spot, where the nephew, 15, shot the video while Regar committed the chilling murder.

Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje called the act deplorable and said: “I have directed police to prosecute the criminal in the shortest possible time.” She added that the crime needed to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

State home minister Gulab Chand Kataria has ordered a special investigative team (SIT) to probe the case, also suspending internet services in Rajsamand district to maintain law and order.

Rajasthan director general of police (DGP) OP Galhotra said the victim’s brother, Roop, informed the police about finding the charred body of his brother in Rajnagar, on a dirt path off the main road near Dev Heritage Hotel. The DGP said a police team from Rajnagar police station went with him to the spot and brought the body to the mortuary.

Roop told the police that he had lived with Afrazul in a rented accommodation in Kankroli for around 12 years. They worked in brick kilns and on construction sites.

Galhotra said Regar’s friends and family members have been rounded up for interrogation. He lives in Regar colony with his wife and three daughters and his parents live in Gujarat. He has been unemployed for a year and has no criminal record.

According to the police chief, a chargesheet will be filed soon, considering the rarity of the crime, so that the prosecution can demand death for the premeditated murder.

In West Bengal, Afrazul’s mother told news agency ANI that she had seen the videos of her son’s killing and wanted strict punishment for the accused. “I spoke to my son in the morning before he was killed. I don’t know the reason behind his murder. I have seen the video, the guilty should be punished,” she said.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the brutal murder. “We strongly condemn the heinous killing of a labourer from Bengal in Rajasthan. How can people be so inhuman? Sad,” she tweeted.