We have constantly been updating you with Dadri murder case and the recent revelation in this connection is that Mohammad Ikhlaq, the man who was murdered as he was rumored to have eaten beef, made his last call to Manoj Sisodia, his childhood Hindu friend. According to cops, on checking the deceased’s call records, it was found that he called Monoj at about 10:30pm which was his last call.
Manoj, who is a grocery shop owner, told Times Of India, “By village standards, it was late in the night and I was preparing to go to sleep. That was when I saw Iqhlaq’s name flash on my phone. He sounded frantic. He told me: ‘Manoj bhai, hum khatrein mein hain. Kisi tarah police ko phone karke force bulwa do’ (Manoj, we are in danger. Call up the police and ask them to send a force). Those were his last words to me.”
In the words of Manoj who was recalling his life’s worst night, “I called up the police and told them my friend’s life was under threat. After I put the phone down, I ran to his house. I ran without stopping, but I was late. The police also arrived within 15 minutes, but Ikhlaq was already dead by then. Maybe if I had reached a little earlier, I could have helped in calming down the mob, enraged at the rumors of a calf having been slaughtered in the house. At least we could get his 21-year-old son, Danish, to hospital.”
Talking of the condition of Danish, he had been taken to Noida’s Kailash Hospital where his skull was found fractured with bleeding in frontal lobe. However, Manoj is scared that the mob could be proved dangerous for him too. To quote what he said in this connection, “I feared that the mob would turn on me. After all, I used to dine with Iqlakh and his family often.”
Besides, he also remembered good old days saying no such incident ever took place in the past in Dadri, “Ever since I learnt to speak, I have known him. I celebrated with him when his elder son got inducted in the Air Force and I saw his daughter grow up in front of my house. This is not the sort of village where Hindus and Muslims don’t mingle. Even though there are only about 30-40 Muslim families in a village of over 6,000 people, they have never faced any danger.”
What is more, he seemed to be unhappy on media’s and leaders’ visit, saying “Bisada has turned into a circus of some sort. There is continuous presence of police force. Every day a new politician visits us and media persons come along with him. In all this mess, the village has got no time to heal.”
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