Police to investigate allegations of racism in crowd during England vs India Test match

The police have confirmed they have launched a criminal investigation into allegations of racism in the crowd during Monday’s play at Edgbaston after an Indian supporter claimed he received horrific abuse from England fans.

Edgbaston officials on Monday evening said they were looking into the issue, with West Midlands Police announcing on Tuesday morning that they are attempting to identify the alleged offender after pictures circulated on social media.

Twitter user Anil Sehmi, whose profile says he is the official dhol player for the Bharat Army, India’s equivalent of the Barmy Army, said people were left in tears on the receiving end of continued racist abuse.

“Racist behaviour at Edgbaston towards Indian fans in block 22 Eric Hollies,” he wrote. “People calling us Curry C----s and p--- b------s.

“We reported it to the stewards and showed them the culprits at least 10 times but no response and all we were told is to sit in our seats.”

Writing directly to Azeem Rafiq, the former cricketer who blew the whistle on Yorkshire’s racism scandal, he pleaded: “Please can you spread this message. We had women literally in tears when @ECB_cricket fans were threatening us. Slitting there [sic] throats looking at us calling us all sorts of names.”

Another Twitter user, Kushal Malde, responded: “I'm all for some good banter between fans but today was some of the worst abuse we've ever experienced at a match. Some disgusting racism ("you smelly P---s" for example). The stewards actually told the India fans to sit down whilst allowing the abuse to go ahead.”

He added: “Of course it's a ‘small minority’. But the people around the ‘small minority’ weren't saying anything to the racists/abusers either. Institutional racism runs rife in