In Maharashtra’s Latur district, police have initiated a search for a local journalist accused of assaulting a 30-year-old Muslim man, Amir Pathan, during a road rage incident on May 3.
The journalist allegedly hurled communal slurs at Pathan, questioning whether he was a “Pakistani or Kashmiri,” before physically attacking him and filming the incident.
Pathan, reportedly distressed by the humiliation and threats of the video being circulated online, died by suicide the following day.
Pathan, who was employed as a senior executive with a telecom company, allegedly took his life at his residence on May 4.
A formal case of abetment to suicide was registered on May 5, following a complaint lodged by his wife, Samrin Pathan.
The accused, identified as a journalist associated with a digital news platform, is currently absconding.
As per the First Information Report (FIR) registered at MIDC Latur police station, the incident occurred on the night of May 3.
Samrin, 29, who serves as a deputy manager at a private bank in Dharashiv district, told police she had called her husband as usual to be picked up from Sanvidhan Chowk.
During the call, she overheard her husband pleading with an individual not to hurt him, insisting he wasn’t at fault.
“During the phone call, I heard the other person telling my husband that he was a journalist. He asked whether my husband was from Kashmir or Pakistan and then hit him. I heard my husband screaming in pain,” stated Samrin in her complaint.
Alarmed, Samrin rushed to the location and found a car with registration number MH24 BR 7008, believed to have been used by the assailant. However, by the time she arrived, the attacker had already fled.
In her statement, Samrin said the attacker had also threatened to upload images and videos of the assault online.
Her husband pleaded with him not to proceed with it. She noted that the incident left Amir severely disturbed.
“He said he was an Indian, but the accused man publicly insulted him and called him a Pakistani, threatening to circulate the video. He said he didn’t want to live anymore. I consoled him and tried to destress him. The next day, he was continuously checking the internet to see if his video had been circulated,” Samrin recounted.
On the evening of May 4, while the rest of the family was heading to a wedding reception, Amir told them to go ahead and promised to join later. However, upon their return roughly an hour later, Samrin discovered Amir hanging with a dupatta.
The family rushed him to a private medical facility, but doctors there referred him to the Latur government hospital, where he was declared dead.
Although the family provided the suspect’s name and vehicle registration number, police initially registered the case against an unidentified person.
“We gave the police the car number and the motorist’s name, but police registered the case against an unknown person,” said Samrin’s father, Attaullah Pathan.
“There was no suicide note. We have registered a suicide abetment case based on the statement of Pathan’s wife, who was not present at the spot during the alleged incident. She claimed that the accused person asked the deceased man if he was a Pakistani. We are investigating and efforts are on to trace the accused,” Latur Superintendent of Police Somay Munde stated.
