Vinod said the men again visited him the next day — that is, on 18 April — and made him talk to a press reporter over the phone.

“One of those men handed me his phone, and requested me to talk to the person on the line. He said the person is a journalist and the report could make the government offer us some monetary help,” said Vinod.

Vinod said he spoke to the journalist quickly, and got busy with relatives and rituals again.

Vinod said the family was shocked to learn about the report in the Times of India two days later.

“We have become a laughing stock in our community. People are mocking us, saying we don’t have four men to lift the bier and have to depend on another community. They are asking if my brother was a “lawaris” [orphan].

“That’s not true at all, ma’am. By god’s grace, we are a large family. It’s only because of this lockdown that we had to do with a gathering of 20 people,” he said.

Vinod further said that he spent Rs 35,000 from his savings and it really hurt him to see “five Muslims walk away with the credit despite doing nothing”.

It is pertinent to mention that when this correspondent called up Vinod and introduced herself as a journalist, he immediately asked in anger, “How dare you publish rubbish?”

It was only when explained that I was a different journalist that Vinod calmed down and narrated his version of the events.

The deceased’s 18-year-old son Sachin sent his video-recorded statement to this correspondent, where he is seen saying (as translated from Telugu),