Hours after a disturbing video surfaced ~ which showed a Nigerian man tied to a pole and being thrashed with sticks by a group of men after he was said to have allegedly attempted to burgle a house in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar ~ Delhi Police filed a case under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against his four attackers and arrested one of them.

The incident took place on 24 September when a man Ahmed, believed to be a Nigerian national, allegedly broke into Krishan Kumar’s house.

While handing him over to the police, Kumar told them that Ahmed had fallen from the fourth floor to the ground when he was confronted and had thus sustained injuries.

“A case under Sections 457 (lurking house-trespass), 380 (theft in dwelling house) and 511 (attempts to commit offences) of the IPC was then registered against Ahmed at Malviya Nagar police station. He was arrested and sent to judicial custody by the court,” said Ishwar Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Delhi.

Singh claimed that “It is not a racial attack. People got carried away and brutally beat up Ahmed.” Kumar has been arrested and the “remaining accused who thrashed Ahmed will be arrested soon,” he added.

A video of the Nigerian man being beaten up with sticks by some men went viral on social media on Monday.

“The video contradicts the claims made by local eyewitnesses. This is serious offence and strict action will be taken against people who could be visibly seen beating Ahmed. At the time of arrest, Ahmed had few injuries on hands and all over his body, but he did not share this with police. Instead, Krishan Kumar told police that Ahmad was caught sneaking in his house and that the latter had subsequently panicked and jumped on a ceiling fan of a neighbour from the fourth floor,” said another senior police officer.

Police sources told The Statesman, “Ahmed did not cooperate in the investigation. He refused to reveal his address and did not tell the police about the assault on him from the locals. He should have shared this with the police. But now a case has been registered against four men and one of them (Kumar) has been arrested. We are examining the video and have identified the others. Very soon they will also be arrested.”

Ahmed had been staying at Lajpat Nagar. His background details and purpose of staying in India are being checked by the police.

There have been several cases of attack on African youths in the national capital and its outskirts in recent months.