A man was lynched, his hand chopped off and the body tied to a metal barricade at a farmers' protest venue at Kundli near the Delhi-Haryana border, a gruesome incident being blamed on a group of Nihangs.
In a video clip that has gone viral on social media platforms, some Nihangs are seen standing as the man lies on the ground in a pool of blood with his chopped off left hand lying next to him.
The Nihangs are heard in the clip saying the man has been punished for desecrating a holy book of the Sikhs.
The video clip shows the Nihangs asking the man where had he come from. The deceased is heard saying something in Punjabi and pleading before the Nihangs. His body bears wounds.
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The clip shows the Nihangs repeatedly asking him who had sent him for committing sacrilege. One of them says the man is a "Punjabi" and not an outsider, and it should not be made into a Hindu-Sikh issue. Another raises a religious chant.
The deceased, Lakhbir Singh, was a labourer from Cheema Khurd village in Punjab's Tarn Taran and was aged around 35 years, police said, adding that the body was found tied to an overturned police barricade near a stage put up by the farmers protesting at the site for over 10 months.
The Nihangs are a Sikh order, distinguished by their blue robes and often seen carrying spears.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions that is spearheading the protests at Delhi's borders against three agriculture laws of the Centre, said a group of Nihangs has claimed responsibility for the brutal killing after the deceased allegedly attempted to desecrate the Sarbloh Granth, a holy book of the Sikhs.
The news has spread shock waves across the country. Now that the video has gone viral, widespread criticism is flooding social media. With this, communal tension is getting thick on social media.
Here's what people are saying. Have a look.
With inputs from PTI.
