Extremism

‘Nepalese’ man tonsured in Varanasi paid to be part of anti-Nepal video, says Police

After a video went viral where an apparently Nepalese man is forced to chant anti Nepal slogans, a case was registered in a Varanasi Police Station on Friday against Arun Pathak, a coordinator of a local Hindu outfit, Vishwa Hindu Sena.

Arun had posted a video on his Facebook handle, showing a man being forcibly tonsured and made to chant anti-Nepal slogans.

During the investigation, the Varanasi Police, on Saturday said that it has come to fore that the man seen in the video was not a Nepalese citizen as had been widely speculated.

Police further added that the man suffers from mental disabilities and had been paid 1000 rupees to be a part of the clip, Indian Express reported. 

In the video, the man is seen sitting on a river bank as Pathak shaves his head while a small cadre of the Hindu outfit Vishwa Hindu Sena is seen instructing the man to chant slogans against Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for the latter’s recent remarks on Lord Ram’s birth.

An FIR was lodged against Pathak at Bhelpur police station on Friday identifying him as the main accused. A day after four people were held following the emergence of the clip, the police arrested two more people on Saturday.

Amit Pathak, SSP Varanassi, in a statement on Saturday said, “A total of six people have been arrested in the case till now, where yesterday four were arrested while two more were arrested on Saturday. In the sequence of events, a person named Arun Pathak has come out as the main perpetrator in the incident. Today, we managed to contact the person who was shown in the video. This person lives here. He has a house in Jal Sansthan government colony. His parents were employees of the Water Department.”

On Monday, while addressing people in a function held to commemorate the 207th birth anniversary of poet Bhanubhakta Acharya, Oli accused India of cultural aggression and for distorting historical facts.

He said that Hindu God Ram was a Nepalese as he was born in Ayodhya, which was actually near Thori in Nepal’s Birjung and not in India.

Following PM Oli’s remarks, Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, released a statement, clarifying Oli’s stance.

The ministry declared, “as there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilization.”

The video, which first surfaced on Facebook on Wednesday, went viral across Indian and Nepali media and was seen as directly related to Oli’s remarks.

 

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