Fringe group tonsures Nepali man in Varanasi

VARANASI: Members of a little-known right-wing group – Vishwa Hindu Sena (VHS) – allegedly tonsured a Nepalese citizen in Varanasi and forced him to raise slogans against Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for his recent controversial comments on Lord Ram. The incident took place somewhere on the bank of the Ganga in Samneghat area on Thursday.
Bhelupur police Inspector Uday Pratap Singh told TOI on Friday that an FIR has been lodged against Arun Pathak, the so-called head of the outfit who has also uploaded a video of the incident on his Facebook account and claimed the responsibility for the act.
“We have lodged an FIR against Pathak, a resident of Jain Dharmashala, Bhelupur, in connection with the incident under sections 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) of IPC and IT Act. He is absconding,” he added.
“One person, Santosh Kumar Pandey, a resident of Ghasiyari Tola, has been arrested on Friday for allegedly shooting the video of Nepali youth during head shaving and being forced to raise slogans,” he told TOI.
More names are likely to be included in the FIR as the investigation progresses. A manhunt has been launched to nab Pathak, who is absconding, he said, adding that the police swung into action after the video of the incident went viral. However, the Nepalese citizen whose head was tonsured was untraced.