New Delhi: A man in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur has alleged that a trident was carved onto his forehead on the day of Holi, March 18, by people who called him a casteist slur and were enraged because he came in contact with alcohol glasses.

Journalist Piyush Rai tweeted a video clip in which the alleged victim, Aadesh, is seen and heard speaking to microphones set up by local news channels.

Rai notes in his Twitter thread that Aadesh cited an incident with alcohol glasses as having enraged the miscreants who allegedly carved the trident on his forehead.

In the clip Aadesh is heard saying that he is a resident of Kanshiram Colony. "This happened at 10.30 am on the morning of the 18th. Sir, I was called on the phone to come for 10 minutes. I reached, and he said, 'Do some work for me, there are three or four glasses here, pick them up and wash them. After washing them when I went to fetch water, my foot hit glasses with alcohol."

Aadesh added that a man called Tinku hit him on his eye first. "I asked, 'Why are you beating me?' They said, 'You'll know.' Three or four of them held me, choked me and said, 'He is of chamar caste. Give him such a lesson and leave such a sign that he never forgets all his life."

Aadesh then said that they used acid to carve the trident on his forehead. "Even though I was writhing in pain, they did not spare me. They spoke of dripping acid into my eye, 'So he can't see, give him a big enough sign'...I know Tinku's name among them, but there were four or five men, I don't know all of their names," Aadesh said, adding that they looked like gangsters, were gamblers and were originally from Meerut.

Aadesh noted that authorities were not responsive to his situation. His mother and sisters have been repeatedly threatened, he said.

When journalists asked Saharanpur Police about Aadesh's situation, SSP Akash Tomar said investigations had revealed that the alleged victim was drinking alcohol on the day of Holi with his two friends. "After that the three smeared colours on each other. The colours reacted and this is visible on the faces of all three. We did medical tests on all three and no acid was detected on any of them," the policeman said.

"Later we found that Aadesh had borrowed Rs 10,000 from his friends. He is now levelling false accusations against them so that he doesn't have to pay the money back," Tomar added.