Explained: Link between tragic death of 25-year-old in Delhi and #BoycottGaana

The Delhi Police on Friday reported that a 25-year-old named Rinku Sharma was stabbed to death in Mangolpuri area after a scuffle at a birthday party went wrong. The police said that the people involved knew each other and the argument happened over shutting their restaurant. They also reiterated that other angles to the story should not be associated with the crime.

However, with religious sentiments surging in India, it did not take long for people to give this case a religious angle. It did not help the situation that all the four accused-Zahid, Mehtab, Danish, and Islam are Muslims. Soon, hashtags like Hindu Lives Matter and Justice for Rinku Sharma started trending on Twitter.

Also Read: Delhi’s Rinku Sharma stabbed in a scuffle: What we know so far about the murder case

Another fact about Rinku Sharma is that he was a laboratorian, who was a member of the Bajrang Dal, the right-wing group associated with Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP). VHP has also claimed that Rinku Sharma was killed for asking for donation money for the Ram temple. It was after this tweet that Delhi Police tweeted their findings from their official Twitter account.

In the midst of all this, the hashtag, Boycott Gaana started trending on Twitter. This came after an employee of Gaana allegedly tweeted something insensitive about the killing of Rinku Sharma.

The employee had also shared jokes on Hindu Gods before. This seemed to have hurt the religious sentiments of people, who started calling for the boycott of the song streaming service.

Gaana then shared a tweet from their verified account stating that they do not endorse the beliefs of their employees and they would further look into the matter. The next day, they made another announcement saying that they have respect for all communities and religions of India, and the employee who had made the tweets that caused outrage was no longer a part of Gaana anymore.

Also Read: Delhi Police transfers Mangolpuri murder case to crime branch

Meanwhiel, Sharma’s murderers have been arrested and the case has now been handed over to the Crime Branch.