Ranchi: Two Muslim men were allegedly beaten to death by a mob in Godda district of Jharkhand on Wednesday morning over suspicions that they were stealing buffaloes.
Residents of Dullu village caught Sirabuddin Ansari (35) and Murtaza Ansari (30) and beat them to death after accusing them of stealing a dozen buffaloes from one Munshi Murmu. Godda SP Rajiv Kumar Singh said that the villagers claimed to have found the missing buffaloes in the possession of the victims.
The victims were allegedly a part of gang of five members that were involved in thefts earlier too. The repeated instances of theft in the area had built up anger among villagers and when the villagers caught the duo, they took the law into their own hands, police said.
A video of the mob’s attack has surfaced on social media. It shows the brutality inflicted on the men by the villagers. One of the two was even slung over a bamboo pole and dragged. The video also showed injury marks over his head.
Four people — Munshi Murmu, Kaleshwar Soren, Kishan Tudu and Harjohan Kisku — have been arrested so far. Police said investigations are on and action will be taken against those involved in the gruesome crime.
The SP said that the victims had previous criminal cases of cattle theft registered against them and were habitual offenders. He further said two FIRs have been lodged – one of murder by the mob and another for stealing buffaloes.
The incident is not the first case of cow vigilantes taking law into their own hands in the state. It comes three months after the case of Alimuddin Ansari’s lynching was disposed of by a fast track court in Ranchi, becoming the first case in recent years when a lynching by gau rakshaks ended in a conviction.
Alimuddin Ansari, a meat trader, was lynched by cow vigilantes in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district last year. A fast-track court convicted 11 of the 12 accused, including a district BJP leader and at least three members of the local “gau raksha samiti" in March.
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