Timur in 1399 attacked and sacked Meerut. It was held by Ilyas Afghan and his son Maula Muhammad Thaneswari who was assisted by non-Muslims led by Safi. Timur tried to negotiate a surrender, to which the inhabitants of the fort replied by stating that Tarmashirin had tried to capture it in the past but failed. Incensed, he set forth with 10,000 cavalry. The forces scaled the walls and Safi was killed in the battle. The inhabitants were killed and their wives and children enslaved. The fortifications and houses were razed to the ground with prisoners ordered to be flayed alive.
