On Diwali last year, Shambhulal Regar called a woman with whom he was allegedly in an illegitimate relationship, according to the Rajasthan police chargesheet against him for the murder of labourer Mohammed Afrazul. “Vah meri last Diwali hai, ab mai yaha par kabhi nahi ayunga, mera ek lakshya hai, wo pura karne ja raha hu. Shayad wapas zinda au ya nahi (This is my last Diwali, I won’t come here again, I have an aim, am going to fulfil that. I may or may not come back alive),” Regar reportedly told the woman over telephone, two months before the murder.
According to the chargesheet, Regar had already made up his mind to murder Afrazul, a crime he filmed with the help of a nephew, a minor, on December 6.
The chargesheet says Regar bought one of his weapons four or five months before the murder and gave it to a blacksmith for sharpening. Later, he personally selected the design of another weapon and had it prepared by the same blacksmith.
The chargseheet says he also trained his 15-year-old nephew. “Isse purv, vidhi se sangharshrat balak ke dil ko majboot karne ke liye use zinda murga katwata tha (Before this, to toughen the heart of the juvenile in conflict of law, he would make him slaughter live chickens),” reads the chargesheet.
It adds he took the boy to watch goats being slaughtered and that, before he committed the murder, he took him to the crime scene for five to seven consecutive days and trained him in videography.
The day of the murder, Regar reportedly took his car and dropped his daughter at school before coming back home, taking the murder weapons and calling Afrazul on his mobile to ask him to come to the murder site on the pretext of work.
Citing Regar’s illegitimate relationship with another woman, who was a nurse, the police have describe him as “characterless” in the chargesheet.
“Isse vah spasht hai ki abhiyukt Shambhulal charitrahin pravritti ka raha, jiske… ke alawa… nurse se bhi awaidh sambandh the (From this it is clear that the accused Shambhulal has been a characterless person who apart from [woman’s name] also had an illegitimate relationship with [another name] nurse,” reads the chargesheet.
The first of these two women had allegedly eloped with labourer Ballu Sheikh, who like Afrazul was from Bengal. When she came back to Rajsamand, the chargesheet says, Regar kept her at a house in the locality along with the nurse with whom he allegedly had an illegitimate relationship. According to the chargesheet, Regar often quarreled over phone with Sheikh and one of his friends, Ajju Sheikh.
The woman who had eloped, it says, had met Sheikh around 2010 when her mother had worked among labourers and Sheikh used to often visited their house to “party” with alcohol and meat. It adds that the nurse once saw the woman and Regar together, which led to a dispute among the three.
“… ne use va Shambhulal Regar dono ko apatti janak halat me dekh liya tha. Is bat par Shambhulal ka… aur uske sath zordar jhagda bhi hua tha ([The nurse] saw Shambhulal Regar and her in an objectionable position and the three also had a big quarrel over this,” reads the chargesheet.
The police have said the mother of the woman went to bring her back but Regar did not let her.
“Shambhulal dwara uski putri ko apne pas rakhne ki baat par usne samaj ki panchayat bulai. Samaj ke logon ne Shambhulal Regar par 10 hazar ka dand kiya va. ko use sipurd kar diya (She convened a panchayat of the community over Shambhulal keeping her daughter with him. Members of the community fined Shambhulal Regar Rs 10,000 and sent [the woman] to her,” reads the chargesheet.
According to the chargesheet, Afrazul was targeted because he helped most migrant workers from Bengal. Regar allegedly thought that by killing Afrazul, he would scare Bengali labourers and they would stop coming to Rajsamand.
