Cops form teams to nab those who assaulted Muslim student from Pune varsity over 'love jihad' claim

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The Pune police have formed special teams to nab the persons, who allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old male Muslim student at the Pune university, accusing him of engaging in 'love jihad', an top official said, reported news agency PTI.

The incident took place on Sunday afternoon when the victim was accompanying two female students on the campus of the state-run Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), he said, reported PTI.

'Love jihad' is a term used by right-wing activists and outfits to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage.

"The student, along with two female friends, was returning after having a meal when four to five unidentified persons on motorcycles approached them on the university campus," another official said, reported PTI.

They started questioning the student and asked him to show his Aadhaar card, he said.

In his complaint, the victim, who is a student of a skill development course in the university, alleged that after seeing his name on the identity card, one of the persons asked whether he had come to the university to engage in 'love jihad' and assaulted him and a Hindu male friend who was also present there, the police said, reported PTI.

Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said, "We have taken a serious note of the incident. The accused have now been traced based on the CCTV footage and special teams have been formed to nab them," reported PTI.

"The accused hail from some other district. Teams have been dispatched and all efforts are being made to nab them," he added, reported PTI.

The SPPU registrar, Vijay Khare, earlier said the university has formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the incident and asked security personnel deployed in the institution to ensure such incidents of students being threatened by anti-social elements do not recur.

In another case, the Cyber Cell of Pimpri Chinchwad Police, Pune, busted a major share market fraud through which unsuspecting individuals were duped of several lakhs. The operation led to the apprehension of five individuals involved in the operation, an officer said, reported ANI.

The arrested individuals were identified as Juned Mukhtar Qureshi, Salman Mansur Shaikh, Abdul Aziz Ansari, Arif Anwar Khan, and Taufik Gaffar Shaikh, reported ANI.

According to DCP Sandeep Doiphode from the Crime Branch, following complaints from residents of Pimpri Chinchwad city in Pune district, who collectively lost Rs 31 lakh to the fraudsters, the law enforcement authorities initiated a thorough investigation. Using advanced technical analysis, the police successfully identified and apprehended five suspects linked to the fake share trading application, reported ANI.

During the operation, police also recovered a sum of Rs 7 lakh, 7 mobile phones, a cash counting machine, 8 debit cards from various banks, and 12 chequebooks from different banks, Doiphode informed, reported ANI.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)