Gujarat man beaten to death for using speaker to play devotional songs; 5 held

Ahmedabad, May 6

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A 42-year-old man was beaten to death by six people over a dispute about using a speaker to play devotional songs at a temple built inside his home in Mudarda village of Gujarat’s Mehsana district, police said on Friday.

The police on Thursday arrested five out of six accused for the incident that took place on May 3, Sub-Inspector SB Chavda of Langhnaj police station said.

“We have arrested five out of six people named in the FIR. They allegedly attacked the victim Jaswant Thakor and his elder brother Ajit with sticks, following a verbal spat regarding a speaker installed by the Thakor family at the small temple built inside their house,” Chavda said.

The FIR was lodged by Ajit on May 4 stating that on the evening of a day before, he had lit a lamp in the temple and played devotional music. Upset about the use of the speaker, another villager Sadaji Thakor came to their house and raised an objection, it was stated.

“When Ajit said the volume of the speaker was already low, Sadaji and five others, including Jayanti Thakor and Vinu Thakor, got angry and started beating the Thakor brothers with sticks. Police was called and they rushed the brothers to Mehsana civil hospital in an ambulance,” Chavda said.

The brothers sustained serious injuries, and were later referred to Ahmedabad civil hospital, where doctors declared Jaswant dead, while Ajit was undergoing treatment as he had fractured his hand, the official said.