UP Horror: Mob kills man over Beef rumours

In a shocking development, which shows growing communal divide in Uttar Pradesh, a 50-year-old man was beaten to death over beef eating allegations.

Mohammad Akhlaq and his son have been dragged out of their residence by the villagers and crushed mercilessly. His son is in hospital in critical condition.

Six people have been arrested in connection with the incident. Police is now investigating as to how the rumor spread.

On Monday night, after an announcement at a local temple in Dadri village of UP, alleging that the family had killed a cow and consuming beef, 18-year-old Sajida had no hunch about how the next few hours would ruin their life. The animal is considered sacred by Hindus, who make up 80% of the country’s 1.3 billion people.

While Maharashtra and Haryana had banned beef earlier, many different states together with Gujarat and Chhattisgarh and cities like Mumbai and its suburbs lately launched momentary bans on sale and possession of meat for various variety of days in respect of ‘Paryushan, ‘ a Jain fasting season.

Police have sent the meat samples recovered from Akhlaq’s home to forensics department.

Daughter of the deceased, Sajida had claimed that she was molested by the mob. “Six of them have been arrested – Rupendra, Vivek, Sri Om, Sandeep, Saurav and Gaurav – all residents of Bisara village”, the police officer said.

Half an hour before the attack, an announcement was allegedly made at a temple nearby that a calf had been slaughtered and its carcass had been found near a transformer. “They thrashed all of us even though my husband had no enemies”.

News of the arrests led to tension in the area as villagers clashed with the police, forcing them to fire in the air.