UP man hacks bus conductor with cleaver for 'insulting Prophet', arrested

A 20-year-old man in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj attacked a bus conductor with a cleaver after a dispute over ticket fare, the police said on Friday. The accused confessed to his crime in a purported video, in which he alleged that he attacked the conductor for "insulting Prophet Muhammad".

The accused also tried to escape the police but was caught in an encounter after being shot in the leg.

According to the Prayagraj Police, the incident took place on Friday morning when the accused, identified as Lareb Hashmi (20), indulged in a dispute with the bus conductor, Harikesh Vishwakarma (24), over ticket price.

Hashmi, who is a first-year engineering student, attacked Vishwakarma with a cleaver, in which the latter sustained grievous injuries on his neck and other body parts.

Hashmi then jumped out of the bus and entered a college campus to hide.

Inside the college, Hashmi allegedly made a video and uploaded it on social media. In the purported video, Hashmi is seen confessing to the crime and accusing the bus conductor of indulging in blasphemy and "insulting Prophet Muhammad".

He is seen brandishing the cleaver in the video with which he hacked the conductor.

The accused is also heard taking the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath in the video.

Another video, taken from inside the bus, shows Hashmi running outside with the cleaver in hand.

Later, recounting the incident, the driver of the bus, Mangla Yadav, said, “Suddenly, there was an attack inside the bus. I heard a sound and then stopped the bus.”

Yadav said they rushed Vishwakarma to a hospital for medical treatment.

After the incident, the Prayagraj Police caught Hashmi from inside the college where he was hiding.

Later, when a police team took him to recover the weapon used in the crime, he allegedly fired at the cops.

However, in the police’s retaliatory fire, he sustained a bullet injury to his leg and was arrested. He is admitted to a hospital for the treatment of the bullet injury.

Abhinav Tyagi, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Prayagraj’s Yamunanagar area, said, "Following the incident, the accused was arrested by the police and a case under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code was registered. Further investigation is underway."

Sharing the details of the accused, the DCP said that Hashmi is a first-year student in the city’s United Engineering College and lives in the Hajiganj area of Prayagraj.

His father, Mohammed Yunus, runs a poultry farm in the city.